independent
by cat07
Summary: Terry, who lives in an orphanage, finds out that he is a wizard with the name harry potter
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1:**

The place was dark. There was barely any movement to be seen or heard; only a small silhouette of a little boy could be seen sprawled on the ground. Terrence Locke was lying on the grass in the darkness with his eyes closed, thinking about his empty life at Newfield, a small orphanage in the filthiest part of the modern city New York. Not that this area was anything near modern. The orphanage was situated in, was it the poorest? He wouldn't be surprised, neighbourhood in America, near lots of dirty, identical black buildings which might have once, a long, _long_ time ago been white. The orphanage itself looked just like the other buildings, apart from the rusty silvery gates surrounding it.

The inside, however, was designed to be as comfortable as possible for the orphans living within it. The best thing Terry liked about it was the huge space outside; there were large areas of grass for the children to play on. They were often running on it joyfully, playing tug or just running for the sake of it; there was a small lake on the far left in which they were rarely allowed to swim, even in the summer. However, the best part about the outside of the orphanage was the basketball pitch. Well, at least in Terry's opinion. He was one of the best basketball players around, with his quick reflexes and excellent aims. Even the oldest boys had trouble against him when it came to basketball.

It would not be the first time he snuck out at night, trying to have some time for himself, some space, to be alone, to be able to listen to his own thoughts. Today was his ninth birthday. Well, at least he wanted to believe it was. Mrs Cole, his carer, told him that he was found at the doorstep of the orphanage when he was a baby. He was in a good state, completely healthy, not crying, just staring at her with big, intelligent eyes. He looked about a year old. They waited for someone to contact them about the child. When no one did, they named him Terrence Locke, just a name that came to their heads, a normal name, and made up his birthday. His friends called him Terry. He opened his eyes and looked up at the sky with his big green eyes. His black hair, which was cut short, was jelled up to make spikes which stood up in all directions.

He felt alone, cast off. He felt different. And he knew that he _was_ different. He could do weird things. Or were they weird? Maybe other people could also do them. Maybe they could also make things disappear, like that time when he made his money, which was stolen, disappear when Mrs Cole suspected he has stolen it and went to look in his room, or jump high enough to reach the roof of the orphanage when Madame Gill, the cook, ran after him with a pan threateningly in her hand, after he has stolen some food from the kitchen, or make the ball soar upwards till it reached the basket and scored when his team was losing in their basketball match against the schoolboys from the rich area, not to mention the weird lightning bolt scar he had on his forehead. Well, maybe the scar wasn't _that_ weird- he might have just gotten it from an accident when he was a baby. Maybe- that was a good one- maybe he got that from a car accident from which his parents have died. Anyway, he had a strange feeling that this scar was special. And the things he could do? He thought that it was _highly_ unlikely that other people could do that. He was definitely weird- he could even talk to snakes. He decided that he was special. He was…

'MR LOCKE! WHAT IN THE NAME OF MERLIN DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING OUTSIDE AT THIS HOUR?!??'. _In the name of Merlin?_ who the hell was Merlin? Terry snickered to himself as he got to his feet and brushed the dust off his cloths. He put on an innocent look which would deceive anyone but Mrs Cole. 'Hey, there's no need to shout, Mrs Cole- I was only going out for a little fresh air'.

-'fresh air, huh? At two o'clock in the morning?'.

Two o'clock? Startled, Terry looked at his watch, 'uh- oh', he said, then 'oops, I didn't mean to say it out loud, hey wait, I didn't mean to say that loud either, hey and I didn't mean to say _that _out loud either, and I didn't mean to s…'

- 'I think I got your point Mr Locke, now, this is not the first time you have done that. Detention! you are going to tidy up the library two hours every night for a whole week! Now off you go to bed- NOW'- she roared the last word as he just stood there staring at her. He started walking quickly towards the building before she could say anything else. Mrs Cole was the strictest person in the place- and the scariest, and that is not only because of her looks or her, ahem, overweight body.

From the inside, the orphanage looked just as plain as the outside. White walls (they have been painted recently after a donation from a rich man- Terry could not remember his name) and hundreds of red- brown doors, all looking the same except for the numbers. Terry stopped in front of door number 119. Sighing, he walked inside. His five roommates were fast asleep. Sighing again, he climbed into the one empty bed and pulled up his covers. He tried to sleep, but somehow he could not relax. Something was bothering him and he had no idea what it was. He kept tossing and turning around in his bed until finally he became so frustrated, that he jumped angrily off his bed and went to look at his wardrobe, where he kept everything he had. Surprisingly, non of his roommates woke up, he thought Josh's breathing became a bit heavier, but he dismissed the thought. Well, even if someone did wake up, the worst thing that could happen was that they would bite him… it was known to happen before in this orphanage.

He got a book and climbed back into his bed. He was going to turn the bedside lamp on but then an idea occurred to him. He was special, wasn't he? Sometimes he could do things unconsciously. What if… what if… no- that was impossible. What if he _tried _to use his powers? No. that was definitely impossible. He did not have any powers- it was only his imagination. Still, it wouldn't hurt to try. Then he could find out for sure if it really _was _real.

He started to concentrate on turning on the lamp. Nothing happened. He took a deep breath and concentrated with all his might- the lamp flicked on. Terry looked at it in amazement and uncertainty when, suddenly, it turned off. Puzzled, he concentrated on turning it on again. It did. But then it turned off again! OK, if the lamp wanted to be stubborn, he could be, too. He turned it on again with his newfound power. It turned off again. He turned it on. It turned off. On. _off_. On. _off_. On.

'STOP IT'. It was Josh. Uh oh. Did he see? 'Err… oh, good morning Josh, why are you up so early this morning?' Terry said wearily.

'That's what I was gonna ask you, you idiot, you woke me up, why did you have to come in so loudly? And then you just had to turn on the light'.

Terry looked at him, annoyed, 'yeah, but then I turned it off' he said. A very lame comeback, he noted to himself.

'No you didn't, I did. But then you had to turn it on again. Why do you have to be so stubborn?'

Terry stared at him. Then it hit him. 'oh- ha ha ha- hey, that was funny' he said, laughing as hard as he could. He fell off his bed onto the floor for some effect.

Josh stared at him as if he has gone crazy- seriously- the crazy people were always trying to make the sane people feel as though _they _were the crazy ones. 'Was that supposed to be a joke?' he asked, 'I didn't know wizards had such a weird sense of humour- I never knew anyone apart from myself. No wonder I never noticed you if you always do magic only in the middle of the night, hey, wait a sec, what time is it?'

Terry stopped laughing. Man, he did sound serious. In any normal conditions Terry would have been convinced that his roommate has lost it, but Terry was a… well, a bully. Everyone in the orphanage knew that and kept their distance, including Josh, which meant that Terry didn't know much about his roommate. And what Josh said made perfect sense- Terry has never tried to delude himself by convincing himself that other people were lying. He could tell when people were telling the truth. And his old roommate _was_ telling him the truth- everything he said made sense- if Terry could do all these things, logically, he was a wizard- only wizards could do magic- right? And what did he say about Josh being a wizard himself? _that_ part did not make complete sense. He hardly ever noticed anything strange about his roommate. Then again, despite them living in the same room, he hardly ever talked to Josh. Mainly because Josh kept mostly to himself and also because they hardly spent any time in their rooms apart from when they went to sleep or when they did their homework…

'you mean you didn't _know _you were a wizard?' Josh have been studying Terry's expression while Terry was musing to himself. Apparently, he was as good as Terry at reading other people's thoughts by the look on their faces.

Terry was going to snap at him- didn't Josh knew who he was? Anyone who knew Terry would have been scared out of their wits. Then again, maybe it was best to play cool- after all, he just met someone- well not exactly _met _but noticed for the first time- who shared some of his… abnormalities. That was what Terry called it till now- he would have to find a new name for it later. He shook his head. 'No, but I guess it makes sense. Anyway, what are we doing _here_ if we are wizards?' he asked.

'OK, so I tell you that you are a wizard and you think that I know everything? Everything I know- I figured out by myself. It's not my fault that you are stupid enough not to know who you are-' he paused, 'sorry', he said, _uh oh_, he was definitely going to a soft topic. Terry hardly ever heard Josh apologise to anyone. Josh was no more an angel than Terry was 'It's just- I might have always known I was a wizard, but, apart from that I don't know anything else about myself. I don't even know who my parents were. I was just dumped onto the front door of this damn place when I was a baby and I stayed here ever since.'

Terry almost gasped, but he managed to fake a smile, 'gee, that's exactly what happened to me', he said in a cheerful voice and noted with glee the surprised look on Josh's face.

Josh didn't believe him at first, but Terry managed to convince him in the end. They stayed awake for the rest of the night, talking in whispers about everything. Terry couldn't believe he lived with this boy for years without knowing about their connection. In fact, they hardly ever talked to each other. It turned out they had some similarities between them. Josh also liked basketball. He was often playing with Terry's rival team from the orphanage. They also talked in the same manner. They were both the type to say whatever came to their head at the moment. However, Josh was a lot bigger than Terry, although it did not make him look more threatening- it was only Terry's small size which made Josh, who was a bit bigger than average, look bigger than he really was. He had big, brown eyes and hair the same colour as Terry- black, only it was cut a lot shorter.

After a long time, they even thought that they must be related somehow. After all, they did look a bit similar; they had the same hair, similar hobbies and abilities and they were both found at the orphanage door when they were about a year old. Maybe they came from a rich family who didn't want children, or maybe from a poor family which did not have enough money to feed two babies and decided it was better to send their babies somewhere else.

Terry knew these were all stupid ideas which could not possibly be real, but he liked the idea of having a brother. He could tell from Josh's face that he felt the same way. In the end, they decided that they were going to investigate about it. The first thing they could do was to ask Mrs Cole. If she did not tell them anything, they would have to break into her office and search for their files.

Seven o'clock was the time they were supposed to get up for breakfast. Terry did not know what was the point of waking up so early because they did not have school since it was summer. Not that he was not complaining today. He couldn't wait to ask Mrs Cole about the whole thing and wondered whether she was going to lie to them about it. It was not long before he found out.

Terry and Josh both walked to breakfast together for the first time. It was strange for both of them because they both kept mostly to themselves and hardly talked to anybody apart from when they had to or when it came to basketball. The meals were always eaten in a large hall which was completely empty apart from three long, brown wooden tables with the day's food. Today there was porridge, bread and jam, and the usual chatter of the orphans.

Terry hardly noticed any of the food. He just helped himself to some porridge without thinking and started eating. He noticed Josh sitting next to him and doing the same thing.

After eating breakfast quickly, they both hurried to Mrs Cole's office and knocked on the door impatiently, opening the door without waiting for an invitation. Mrs Cole was sitting at her table, tucking hungrily into a large bowl of beans and sausages like an animal. She looked up as they came in and her face reddened instantly. Terry and Josh looked at each other, struggling to keep straight faces as they tried not to laugh.

The embarrassed look has changed to one of surprise as Mrs Cole looked at the two small boys.

'Oh, hello, Mr Locke', she said. Why was she only addressing Terry? Did he do anything wrong? 'I think you came here a bit early, the detention is not until seven o'clock tonight'. _Oh_.

'Actually, I didn't come here for the detention. I was just wondering If you could tell me and Josh anything else about us being found on the doorstep.'

Mrs Cole's face suddenly became white. 'How did you know?' she asked

'You told me!', Terry and Josh said in unison.

Mrs Cole looked at them with narrowed eyes. 'I did not tell you that you were both found together on the same day- how did you find out?'. She looked at them with searching eyes, then, seeing the amazed looks on their faces, realised what she has just done- 'you… you didn't know?'

'No we did not know' Josh said through clenched teeth, 'but we would appreciate it if you could tell us anything else we did not know about ourselves- for instance if we are related'. Terry vaguely noted Josh's ability to say perfectly polite things, but somehow still sounding un-polite.

Mrs Cole looked a bit uncomfortable 'I'm very sorry for not telling you earlier' she said, sounding sincere, 'we just didn't want you to have some strange ideas or to try to find out about yourselves in dangerous ways and I want you to promise you will not do so. Now that you know what you know, however, I think it would not be harmful to tell you that we did a DNA test on both of you and found that you are not related in any way by your blood' she stopped and looked at them. Terry felt a bit disappointed. He never had a family and would have found it very exciting if he had a brother. 'Now, I want you both to go outside and not think about it. It would do you no good'. she dismissed them with a wave of her hand and went back to her food.

'What do you think?' Josh asked as soon as they closed the office door behind them.

'I think she was telling us the truth' Terry answered. 'But that doesn't solve our problem. Whoever left us on the doorstep was probably a wizard too. I think the best way to find out about ourselves is to find a wizard'.

'Yeah, you're probably right, but the problem is finding one…' Josh answered. Then his face suddenly lit up, 'I've got an idea. You remember yesterday, when you turned the light on?' he waited and Terry nodded. 'Well, I think I felt some kind of power in the air. Maybe that's what we feel when we use our powers.'

- 'and your point is…'

- 'we can go outside and look for some kind of power. Then find it's source and follow whoever caused it'

- 'and then?'

- 'I don't know' Josh admitted. 'But we'll probably find something useful, you never know, and, anyway, do you have a better plan?'

Terry thought for a moment, then said 'you might have just imagined it. How can we be sure we are not looking for something which does not exist?'

Josh looked at him, exasperated 'I can't believe you are such an idiot. We just have to perform some magic and see if we feel it again.'

'you mean if _you _feel it again' Terry muttered, but didn't push it any further. Instead he just said 'OK, let's give it a try. You try first because you're better than me- you had more practice'. Josh agreed and concentrated hard. Terry wondered what he was trying to do but tried to concentrate on feeling anything unusual. He didn't.

Suddenly, he thought he could feel something and at the same time he heard a strange noise coming from a tree nearby. He turned his head to look. There were a few kids, about their age, sitting under the tree, talking and laughing, when, suddenly, a small branch fell on the smallest kid. The boy looked up in surprise while the rest of the children sitting around him and Terry and Josh started laughing. 'Awesome, I should try it on Mrs Cole sometime' Terry said, thumping Josh on the back.

Josh just shrugged. 'I do it lots of times. I think I even did it to you once, I can't remember. Anyway did you feel anything?'

'Yeah, I did feel a sort of tingly feeling. I guess you were right. Oh, and about dropping a branch on me- you are going to pay for that' Terry answered half joking- half serious.

'Whatever' was the answer he received. 'So are we going to do it now?' he asked

'now?'

'Sure. We are allowed to go out till one o'clock for lunch- we've still got time'

They walked towards the grey gates which were now open for whoever wanted to go out. They were not allowed to wander too far- only if they wanted to buy something from the little pocket-money they received each month or if they wanted to go to the local library to borrow some books. Fortunately, none of the carers were about so they could wander wherever they wanted.

They walked in the normally dark streets of the poor neighbourhood which were now bright with sunlight. They decided to walk towards the richer area, where Terry's rival basketball team's school was situated because there would be more people in that area, going to the mall or meeting with friends.

'You sure this is the right way? We've been walking for hours' Josh complained

'Hey, relax, Josh, I can find the way with my eyes closed. The basketball matches are always in the rich kids' school coz' their pitch is bigger and I know it's that way. And, no, we've only been walking for half an hour- we're almost there. I think we should go to the mall first.'

Five minutes later they stood in front of a tall, modern building with hundreds of people bustling in and out. 'Well, I guess this is it- all we have to do is keep our eyes open.' Terry told Josh as they stepped into the building.

Terry noticed that Josh looked a bit uncomfortable- this was the first time he has been to the rich part of the area and was obviously not used to it. 'Start searching' Terry reminded him.

- 'right'

About an hour later, they still did not see or feel anything, although Terry noticed that Josh was starting to feel more comfortable and even to enjoy himself. He couldn't blame him. The place was interesting. There were people going everywhere, buying clothes, food, everything. There was a big book shop to their right. 'Hey, check it out' Terry said, pointing to the book shop. 'We didn't try there, let's go'.

-'OK'

Terry noticed that Josh hardly said anything. He couldn't believe that someone could be so fascinated about a simple mall. 'Hey, Josh, what's wrong?' he asked as they entered the book shop.

'I can feel something' Josh said distractedly. 'Be quite, I'm trying to concentrate' he motioned to Terry to follow him. He was going further into the big shop. Terry tried to see what Josh could feel, but couldn't feel anything. He concentrated harder, shutting out all of his other senses and extending his mind like a blanket over the mall, searching for some kind of power… anything… _there_. He could feel it now. It was in the same direction Josh was going in but it was very faint. He had no idea how Josh could feel it in the first place. He probably just had more experience. _excuses, excuses_.

Suddenly Josh stopped and Terry bumped into him. 'Ouch!'. The man who was standing next to the nearest bookshelf looked up to see what the noise was about. When he saw Terry he just turned his attention back to the books he was examining. _The power has come from him_. This must mean that this man was a wizard. Terry looked at him carefully. The man did not look out of the ordinary. Apart from the fact that he was wearing a flowered dress. How could he have missed it before? He heard Josh sniggering next to him and knew that he must have noticed the man too.

The man looked up sharply at the sound of the sniggering. Josh stopped immediately. The old man studied them carefully. He had intelligent brown- black eyes and grey hair. He smiled and offered them his hand. 'Jonathan Lupine' he said. 'You are probably muggle borns since you obviously noticed something wrong about what I am wearing. You probably understand in these things'

They looked at each other, confused. Terry could tell from Josh's look that he didn't know what _muggle _meant either. However, he decided to play along. 'Yeah', he said. 'I'm Terrence Locke and this is my brother, Joshua White'. They shook hands in turns.

'Nice to meet you' Jonathan Lupine smiled. He looked a bit uncomfortable, as if he wanted to say something but was too embarrassed. 'Err, I didn't see anyone from the wizarding community around here apart from you and…you seem to know a bit about muggles… could you just help me to chose normal clothes?' he asked, turning red in the face.

Terry had to fight to keep his excitement. There was actually a _wizarding community_! However, he managed to keep a cool face. 'Sure' he heard Josh say from beside him. Josh looked totally calm considering their situation and the "treasure" they have just found. 'There's a clothes shop right across from this one. We can come with you if you want'.

The man looked relieved. 'Thank you' he said sincerely. 'Do I look that bad in these clothes?' he added

'You have no idea.' Terry answered wickedly. Josh suddenly coughed in an attempt to cover his laughter. Lupine looked at him knowingly, but said nothing.

When they arrived at the clothes shop, Terry started leading the way towards the suites area, but Josh stopped him. Terry looked at him, confused. What was his problem? They finally found a _wizard_. Josh pointed towards the skirts area and winked. _Oh_. Terry understood immediately and led the way. 'You can chose whatever you want' he told Lupine.

'Oh, I don't know' Lupine answered. 'I don't have much experience, maybe you could pick one for me?'

'Sure.'

When Lupine finally got out of the dressing room, Terry and Josh had to fight harder than ever not to laugh:

'What do you think?' Lupine asked turning around. He was wearing a pink jacket over a tight, black shirt and a red mini skirt with black squares for decoration. He looked like some Scottish criminal. He only had to wear a gold earring on one ear. And a few missing teeth would have completed the picture.

'You look great' Terry managed to choke out.

'Fabulous' Josh added.

Out of the clothes shop walked two nine year old boys and one grown up man who was attracting lots of looks from people passing by. 'Well boys, thank you very much for your help' Lupine said. 'I guess I'll have to leave you now. It was a pleasure meeting you'.

_No_. they needed more information. Who knew when will be the next time they were going to meet a wizard?

Suddenly, an idea occurred to Terry. 'Err… Mr Lupine?'

Lupine turned round in surprise at being addressed in this way. 'Yes?'

Terry's heart leapt nervously. Could this actually work? What if it didn't? he noticed Josh looking at him curiously. It was worth a try. 'Well, we're kinda lost. Mother sent us to buy some potion ingredients but we couldn't find the place.' He could see Josh's eyes widening. He hoped Lupine would fall for it. He didn't even know if wizards even had potions. Maybe it was just in the stories. Or maybe only some people could make them.

Lupine looked at him in surprise. Terry crossed his fingers. 'Well, kid, you are in luck. I'm just on my way to Powell Place. I can show you the way if you want to'.

Terry let out the breath he didn't realise he was holding in relief. 'Thank you sir.' he said. This time, it was Lupine who led the way, so Terry and Josh had an opportunity to talk without him listening.

- 'way to go, Terry, I can't believe he actually _believed_ that. What do you think that place is- Powell Place- did he say?'

- 'I think so. Maybe it's some place where all the wizards are always going to get their stuff'

- 'do you think we can find anything about ourselves if we go there?'

- 'I don't know. It seems very unlikely. Why would anyone know about us?'

- 'good point. Still, it's a start, you never know.'

Lupine stopped in front of a small shop at the corner of a street Terry have never been to, although it might have been close to the orphanage because they were back in the poor area. Could this be a wizards' shop? It seemed very unlikely- the shop looked too ordinary. They entered the shop. It was a pub. The owner of the pub was a fat man, no hair and an apron around his bulging belly. 'Hello John,' he said as they entered the pub. 'Whisky?' he asked, holding a bottle ready.

'No, thanks, Steve, I'm only here to pass to Powell Place.' Lupine answered. _pass to Powell Place?_ how can you pass to Powell Place through a pub? 'come on.' Lupine urged him and Josh. _huh?_ come on where? Apparently, the same thoughts crossed josh's mind as he gave him a blank look. They followed Lupine to the back door where they were met with a big stone wall. Lupine took out a long stick from his pink jacket and tapped the wall with it on several bricks. Suddenly, to Terry's, well, not amazement- he was prepared for anything, the wall separated in half and begun moving sideways.

Behind the wall there was, surprise, surprise, a wizards' shopping centre. 'Wow, this place _rocks,_' Terry whispered to Josh.

- 'tell me about it. I think that thing was a wand' Josh whispered back

Terry didn't bother to answer. He was too busy looking at his surroundings. There were hundreds of witches and wizards around them, hurrying in all different directions. They were all wearing weird kinds of robes. The most popular colour was black, but there were also purple, green, and even orange robes. The shops, however, were even more interesting than the people. They were selling lots of interesting stuff: love potions, socks which screamed when they started getting too smelly, ice-cream which took whatever flavour you wanted it to and, best of all, wands.

Terry noticed that they had a different kind of money. Their coins were smaller and thicker and they were made out of gold.

'What potion ingredients did your mother tell you to buy?'

Terry nearly jumped out of his skin. He completely forgot that Lupine was still with them. To his surprise, his ridiculous clothes were gone to be replaced by a long, green robe.

Following Terry's gaze, Lupine laughed. 'It's so good to be rid of these muggle clothes. You did a great job of making me look like a fool.'

Terry and Josh looked at each other, startled, ready to run, but Lupine just smiled. 'Hey, it's fine, it was just a joke, right? I'm not that stupid, you know? Even in the wizarding world pink is a girl's colour and I could tell that there was something wrong by the looks of the people. They looked at me in an even worse way than when I wore the other dress. I just can't wait to tell my brother, Remus, back in Britain.'

Terry and Josh laughed nervously and stopped pretty quickly. 'I think we'll be fine now. Thanks for your help' Josh said

'No problem.'

As soon as Lupine disappeared round the corner, they both burst out laughing. Josh laughed so hard that he was on the floor. Terry joined him in no time.

'I see my situation was worse than I thought.' Lupine was back and was looking at them with amusement in his eyes.

Terry and Josh were laughing so hard that they couldn't stop now even if they wanted. Terry could feel himself choking and he started coughing. Lupine pointed his wand at him and the coughing stopped but the laughter continued.

'I only came because I just remembered a new shop which has been opened recently where you can find potion ingredients much more cheaply than the old one. It's called "quick potion". I just thought that you will be interested.' said Lupine.

Having no other excuse to get rid of him, Terry and Josh followed him round Powell Place's streets until they came to a modern shop with the sign "quick potion". They thanked him and told him they would be fine from there. Actually, they did not want to enter the shop, but as soon as they saw it they became curious and went to have a look around.

'… some workers' Terry heard a voice say.

'And where exactly do you think we can find workers? I'll have to close the shop before it even opened, we should have thought of it earlier.' Another voice was saying.

Josh and Terry looked at each other excitedly. Terry could tell that Josh was thinking the same thing as he did. It seemed to happen a lot lately, as if they could read each other's minds. Not that it wasn't useful. Actually, it was _very _useful. They just had to think something and the next moment it was being done.

They both walked confidently towards the voices. Seriously, Terry would never have felt that confident if Josh wasn't around, and they've only started to hang out together about twelve hours ago. It was as if there was some strange connection between them.

The two voices belonged to two men; the younger one, about eighteen, was tall and muscular, with flaming red hair which was pulled back in a ponytail and he had one fang shaped earring on his left ear; the other man was a bit older, with greying black hair and blue eyes. They both looked up as Terry and Josh entered. The older man's eyes lit up as he saw them. 'Hello, what are you here to buy? Dragon blood? Unicorn hair? We have everything- you just name it.' he said eagerly.

Trying to look formal, Terry extended his hand. 'How do you do? I'm Terrence Locke and this here is Joshua White,' he said, indicating Josh. 'We are here for a job.'

The two men looked at each other, then at the two nine year old kids. Then they both burst out laughing.

The younger man was the first to recover and looked at them curiously. He was going to say something when the older man, however, finished laughing and started shouting immediately, shoving them out of the shop.

Outside the new shop "quick potion", passer bys were walking innocently on the calm streets, when suddenly the calm was shattered by a man's shouts from the said shop, the door opened, and two kids went flying out of the door. They both quickly fumbled to their feet and started running…



- 'lucky that man didn't have a knife'

- 'lucky he didn't have a pan'

- 'what?'

- 'never mind'

Terry and Josh were both climbing the long- closed orphanage gates when…

'WHERE IN THE NAME OF MERLIN HAVE YOU TWO BEEN? HAVE YOU GOT ANY IDEA HOW WORRIED WE ALL WERE? WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE PLAYING AT ANYWAY?'

They both fell off the fence and onto the hard ground, grunting. Luckily, the fence was only five feet tall… it could have been ten.

Terry and Josh both scrambled to their feet and looked at each other for the tenth time today. 'Well, at least I came back in time for the detention.' Terry said weakly, too tired to snigger at the way he said "in the name of Merlin"

'Yeah, and I'm in time for dinner.' Josh squeaked.

Mrs Cole looked as if she was going to blow up any minute. 'THERE WON'T BE ANY DINNER FOR EITHER OF YOU. AND YOU, MR WHITE, ARE GOING TO JOIN MR LOCKE IN THE DETENTION. YOU BOTH HAVE DETENTION FOR TWO WEEKS STARTING NOW! FOLLOW ME!'

'She sounds like a pirate shouting _follow me_ in this way.' Terry noted dryly. Josh agreed, too tired to add any more comments.

They both had the time of their lives writing the lines: "I will never snick out without notifying my carer" till midnight, when Mrs Cole entered and told them they were allowed to go to bed and not to forget to come to detention tomorrow.

Terry was so tired that he barely registered the unoriginality of Mrs Cole- _never snick out without notifying my carer?_ couldn't she have thought of something better like _I will always eat a snuck without notifying my carer_? He didn't even notice _his _unoriginality as his missed meals spoke- or thought for him. He vaguely remembered that there was something he wanted to tell Josh but he couldn't remember what it was. _It__'__ll just have to wait till tomorrow_.




	2. Chapter 2

Author's notes: This is the first time I am submitting a story, so let me know what you think!

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**Chapter 2:**

- 'groan'

- 'ouch!'

- 'what is it with you two? It's already seven thirty and you're still sleeping like… like… oh, never mind'

Terry and Josh glared at their roommate, Hart from down on the floor.

'Yeah, but that's not a reason to roll us out of our beds.' Terry growled and immediately groaned again. He had to do some serious regaining on his lost sleep. He didn't sleep at all two days ago and went to bed at twelve o'clock yesterday.

'Aaarrggh, I'm gonna kill him…' Josh has finally opened his eyes completely after squinting for a few minutes at the sudden light. He got to his feet heavily. Hart ran out of the room. Since Terry didn't care about what was going on in the orphanage, he never spent too much time evaluating every character he saw, and was therefore surprised to find out that he was not the only bully in the orphanage. Apparently, Josh and Terry shared more than just the same hobbies.

'Way to go' Terry cheered tiredly, finally getting to his feet. 'You got rid of him.' Then he fell down again.

Josh sniggered. Terry glared at him. They both sighed and slumped down on the floor.

An hour later, they went down for breakfast. Terry's stomach was rumbling. He didn't eat since yesterday's breakfast. When they got to the hall, it was already empty and there was no food left.

'Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrgggggggggghhh.' They both shouted in unison. Silence. Obviously, no one heard them because everyone was outside, including the carers. Without another word, they both turned and started in the same direction. They didn't have to speak to know where their destination was: The kitchen! Huh, what a nice word…



When they finished eating, they couldn't move a muscle. They were both slumped in their chairs, still in the kitchen when suddenly Terry jumped up as if his ass was on fire. Josh looked at him, alarmed: 'Huh?'

'I just remembered.' Terry said excitedly, practically jumping up and down for joy. 'Remember yesterday, at that potions shop?'

'That would be very difficult to forget, brother, what is it?'

'Well, I just remembered,' Terry squealed

'Yeah, I figured that much out.'

'No- you don't understand- I stole two potions from that shop yesterday. I was too tired to tell you or to even to think about it.'

Now it was Josh dancing out of his chair. 'Are you crazy? What if they caught you? This is awesome! Where did you put them?'

Terry lost his smile- 'I can't remember'

'What???? Let's go and look for it!'

Two tired and exhausted boys entered the kitchen; two jumpy and excited boys went out of the kitchen. On their way to their room Terry couldn't help but think about how close they became in just two days. And how he always felt this tingle of excitement when he was near his new friend. In only two days they became nearly as close as brothers.

When they got to their room they started the search. After a few minutes, Josh found the tiny bottles in Terry's trousers' pockets.

Each boy studied one bottle and then they both shouted in unison: 'Cool!'

'What does yours do?'

'It makes whoever drinks this look older in fifteen years. Only a few drops will last for about twenty four hours. What does yours do?'

'It makes whoever drinks this have a different appearance. It's the same as yours: only a few drops will make it last for about twenty four hours.'

'Perfect.'

They smiled at each other mischievously. They both knew exactly how they could use these potions to their advantages…

Terry looked at his watch. 'It's ten o'clock. We have till one o'clock. We can't drink the potions now, everyone will freak out. I've got a plan'



Two nine year old boys entered the public toilet in a big modern mall. Two twenty four year old men went out of the public toilet in the same big modern mall. It was all too simple. All they had to do was drink the ageing potion to make them look older. Then drink the other potion, concentrate on the face you want to turn into, et voila!

'What time is it?' Josh asked. He was now a twenty four years old man, with muscular body, blond hair and blue eyes. Terry thought he looked a bit Russian. He had a deep, masculine voice which sounded very different from his normally childish one.

'Eleven o'clock.' Terry answered, immediately startled at his own deep voice. He now looked like a fully grown man. He had deep black eyes, black hair and high cheekbones. When he looked at the mirror he saw a strange, Italian man staring back at him. All they had to do now was think of new names and a cover story.

'I go first.' Terry said jokingly. 'OK, my name will be… Renaldo Orriero- what do you think? It does sound Italian, right?'

'Yeah, it's perfect. I'm Vladimir Korsakov'

'Good. Now, why are we together?'

'I was born in Russia and you were born in Italy. We both moved to New York at a young age and learned in the same high school, became best friends, blah, blah, blah…'

'Got it. You ready?'

'When you are, brother.'

And they walked together out of the mall, wearing the clothes they "borrowed" from the orphanage's caretaker. They had no trouble finding the small pub they visited the day before. They both had a great sense of direction.

No one looked up as they entered apart from the man at the counter, what was his name? Steve? Who cared? Then Terry realised that they couldn't enter Powell Place without a wand. Great. Yesterday, they went out of the place simply by turning a handle, but getting in was a lot more difficult.

'Err…excuse me sir' Terry said, addressing the owner of the pub. 'Do you know how I can get to Powell Place?' he asked, glancing sideways at Josh for support. Josh just shrugged an gave him a "what-do-you-expect-me-to-do" look. Terry sighed with exasperation: Why was he the one to do the talking all the time?

'The back door.' Came the short reply. Uh oh. What were they supposed to do now?

Josh, probably feeling sorry for Terry, said 'could you please show us the way?'

The owner sighed, put down the glass he was just cleaning and showed them to the back. 'See?' he said, pointing to the wall- 'this is it.'

'Our wands have been stolen' Josh said. A heavy hint.

'Then why didn't you say before?' the owner took out his wand, tapped the wall three times, and the two boys found themselves in Powell Place once again. They thanked him and went inside.

This time, however, they did not pause to look around them, but went straight to "quick potion".

'Stop talking nonsense, Vlady,' Terry was saying as soon as he opened the door to the shop, pretending to continue a conversation. 'None of the other shops around needed assistants. Why do you think this one would?'

Catching on quickly, Josh replied without thinking, 'oh, no reason, Renaldo, but it's still worth a try.'

They both looked up to see the two men from yesterday listening intently to their conversation. They both hid their smiles as they saw the looks on the men's faces.

'Hello,' Josh said, feigning boredom, 'I was just looking for a job for me and my friend here but I understand that you have none. Not to worry, we're just leaving.' He said, turning to leave.

Terry had to give it to him- he was a good actor, he was just worried that he did it with just _a bit_ of exaggeration.

The shop owner, however, did not notice anything. On the contrary- he looked like he could kiss them both. 'I'm very glad to meet you' said the shop owner with enthusiasm. 'I'm Stanley Grey, but you can call me Stan. I'm the owner of the place and I'd be more than happy to offer you a job.' Then he said, as if remembering 'Oh, and this is Charlie Weasley, he's an old friend of mine but he works in Romania. He is going to return there in two days.'

Terry and Josh nodded their heads politely. Both noticing, but not commenting on the overfriendliness of the man who was now about their age. Or maybe they _looked_ now _his_ age. 'Nice to meet you too Mr Grey. I'm Vladimir Korsakov and my friend here is Renaldo Orriero '

'Please, call me Stan,' Grey said quickly.

'Sure… Stan,' Josh/Vladimir said. 'Listen, me and my friend… We need a place to stay, and we don't have any money on us. Do you mind if we stay here till we have enough money to pay for ourselves?'

Terry looked at him in amazement. There was no mistaking it, this time his new friend was going too far. Was he suggesting staying at this place and… _running away_ from the orphanage? Apparently, he did. And he was absolutely serious.

Terry looked at Stan carefully. He looked a bit bewildered at being asked such a direct question, especially because he had not told them what their salary would be yet. He seemed to consider this for a moment, then smiled and said 'Of course. There is a free room upstairs in which you can sleep and keep your belongings, but I'm afraid I have no beds, so you will have to sleep on the floor. Is that all right?' he asked.

It was obvious that he needed workers so badly that he would let two strange men sleep in his house. 'Sure,' Josh said. 'We both appreciate your help very much.'

'It is my pleasure,' Stan answered. 'Now about your working hours and payment: Since you will be staying here, you will probably need to work full time. We are open from ten o'clock in the morning till nine o'clock in the evening. You can have a lunch break from twelve thirty to one thirty and a coffee break from four o'clock to five o'clock. I can pay you eight sickles an hour each, which makes… seventy two sickles a day each. Saturday and Sunday are free because we are closed. What do you say?'

Josh and Terry looked at each other, Terry still bewildered at the idea of running away but feeling more confident at Stan's deal. He didn't know what sickles were but seventy two dollars were certainly a lot of money, and they especially appealed to him as a little boy. He had free time in the morning till ten o'clock, he also had free time from twelve thirty to one thirty and from four to five, not to mention completely free Sunday an Saturday. They would never be as free as that back in the orphanage.

Looking at his watch he could see that it was already two o'clock. He should have been back at the orphanage an hour ago, but he knew that he was not going to return to that place. Not even to collect his belongings. He didn't have anything special anyway and he would have to buy new cloths to fit his new body, which he decided he was going to use more often. Actually, he was going to use it twenty four- seven. Maybe he would transform himself back sometimes, just for the fun of it. He met Josh's gaze and knew that it was settled. They were staying at Stan's place.

'OK.' Josh said. 'You've got a deal, so, what does the job include?'

'Excellent,' Stan replied. 'You just have to make sure all the stuff is tidy and in its rightful place and deal with any customers. The prices are written on the tags on the purchases. You can start from tomorrow and have this day free.'



Terry and Josh spent the rest of their day visiting every hole and corner in Powell Place; they have been to Oleander, the best wand maker in New York, who told them about every wand he ever sold and their prices. They soon realised that a wand was the wizard's greatest necessity. Each wand cost about eight sickles.

From a trip to Gringotts, the worldwide wizarding bank, they learned that a sickle was about 1.5$, which meant that their daily salary was about… 108$!!! That man must be rich! They were definitely not going to have any problems with money!

They visited the local book shop, in which there were hundreds of thousands of interesting books- all about the wizarding world.

There were also the shops that Terry noticed on his earlier visit, like the ice-cream shop. And the cloths shop which sold socks which screamed when they became too smelly also sold normal wizarding cloths, which Terry made a note to buy and lots of other things Terry could not imagine anyone would _want_ to buy, such as robes that changed colour according to the person's mood.

However, the thing Terry found most interesting was the sports accessories shop. They sold brooms and all kinds of weird looking balls, some of which could fly. Terry found a leaflet explaining the basic rules of the most popular wizarding sport, quiditch, which was played on a flying broom. Terry wondered what it was like to fly a broom.

Terry and Josh returned to the shop late that evening. Stan was not there but Charlie Weasley was sitting at the kitchen's table, reading a muggle's magazine and sipping coffee (by listening to people's conversations, Terry learned that a muggle meant a non-magic person).

Following Terry's gaze Charlie smiled. 'I know quite a lot about muggles.' he said, indicating the paper, 'My father works in the muggle department in the ministry of magic in Britain. He is crazy about them. I take it you are a muggle born as well? You are still wearing their clothes.' He had a deep, British accent and he was speaking in a relaxed tone.

'Yes,' Terry/Renaldo agreed. 'But I find the wizarding world much more fascinating.' He caught Josh giving him a warning look- _don__'__t push it_.

'It might be,' Charlie agreed. 'If you look at it from the right point of view. Take me, for example, I work with dragons. They are really fascinating creatures. Their blood, skin and fangs are used for many things, especially for potions. See this earring I'm wearing? That's a real dragon's fang, shrunk with magic. It's used to give good luck.'

'But how can you handle them? I mean, aren't they a bit dangerous?' Josh asked, looking directly at Charlie's burn marks on the arm and face.

Charlie pulled out his wand and produced two cups of tea and two chairs. 'yeah, they are dangerous. I've only been working with them for a year because I finished school a year ago. It takes about ten men to stun a dragon. I got those marks on my first few months, when I did not have much experience, but I'm much better now. I didn't get a single burn in a whole week already!'

Terry took a sit beside Josh and started sipping the tea Charley has just summoned. It was very interested to hear about dragons, but he also wanted to know about the wizarding schools. He had to attend one if he wanted to live amongst wizards. 'What school did you go to?' Terry asked.

'Oh, I lived with my parents then, in Britain, I went to Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry with the headmaster Dumbledore. It is the best magical school in the world- you've probably heard of it?' he said proudly.

'Oh yes, of-course we heard of it. In fact, we've been attending it ourselves. Dumblydoor was a really great headmaster' Josh said quickly, receiving a "watch-it" glare from Terry.

'Really?' Charlie looked impressed. 'How come I've never seen you there?'

'Ah' Josh said in a "know-it-all" voice. 'You're still young. We attended the school a long time before you started.' _Yeah, very impressive coming from a nine year old kid,_ Terry thought dryly.

They had a good time talking to Charlie, who was a nice guy, in Terry's opinion. In the end, they said goodnight and went to bed.

'Nice going.' Terry commented as they got into the mattresses on the floor, referring to Josh's not-so clever remarks.

'Thanks.' Josh shot back. 'Anyway, I wonder what's going on back there, they're probably looking for us. Do you figure we're gonna be in the newspapers?'

Terry knew he was talking about the orphanage. 'I don't know and I don't care.' He answered truthfully. 'Anyway, I think we should be getting some sleep now because we're supposed to start working tomorrow. And don't forget, we need to take the potions again before eleven o'clock in the morning- that is, before our twenty four hours are up. We can use the stolen potions until they are finished and then we can buy some more potions from the money we earn.'

'Huh, it's so good to have a brother who thinks about everything'

'Whatever'



'Renaldo? Renaldo! Wake up!'

'Huh?' Terry rolled over in his bed. 'Stop it Josh- shut up'

'Who's Josh?'

Terry suddenly snapped back to his senses, remembering where he was and who he was supposed to be. 'Oh, he's just someone I used to know from Hogwarts- I… had a dream about him.' he said, looking up at Charlie's face and trying to sound convincing. He wondered why Charlie woke him up at this hour. Wait, _what time was it?_ Oh no. It was nine o'clock.

'Where's Vlady?' Terry asked, referring to Josh.

'Downstairs, eating breakfast. He said that he wanted to talk to you- that's why I woke you up'

'_You _woke me up because _Vlady_ wanted to talk to me? Why couldn't _he_ just wake me up instead? I'm gonna kill him! Hey I'm sorry if he made you do some more things like that. He could sometimes use people without thinking twice about how he's ordering them around.'

'Not at all' Charlie's ears turned red at Terry's rage. 'He wanted to come upstairs to call you but I insisted to do it myself.'

'Yeah, right.' Terry muttered, but he let the subject drop. He followed Charlie downstairs to the kitchen.

'Morning.' He muttered

'Yeah, morning, sleeping beauty. How was the night?'

Terry glared at him. 'Fine.' He answered. He looked at Josh carefully, what did he want to talk about? He didn't dare ask in case it was something Charlie Weasley was not allowed to hear. Terry and Charlie sat at the table across from Josh. It was so weird- talking to a grown up man like that. It was even weirder to be talking to Josh in that formal way.

'Can I borrow your muggle magazine?' Josh suddenly asked Charlie. Terry raised his eyebrows. Now he knew what it was all about. Josh wanted to know if their names were reported missing in the muggle world.

What Terry did not know was that Josh was so stupid, a thought which he voiced aloud. Josh should know that it should take at least a week for their names to appear at the newspaper, if not more. Josh looked at him with narrowed eyes, apparently being able to guess why Terry has made that statement.

'You call reading general muggle news being stupid?' Again, Terry knew what Josh meant. He was saying that he did not look for stuff about their disappearance, that he was only reading general news.

Charley looked as if he knew that they did not want to talk with him there and he got up to leave.

'No, it's fine, you can stay,' Terry told him firmly. 'I'll talk with Vlady later.' He added through clenched teeth.

'Yeah, no problem.' Josh added lightly. 'I think the issue has been solved already anyway.' for which he received puzzled looks both from Charlie and from Terry.



After they finished eating, Josh and Terry were heading upstairs to take their potions. By that time, it was already ten o'clock and they had to start working.

Josh was tidying the shelves while Terry stood at the sales desk.

'Can I have some help round here?' Josh said, wiping sweat from his forehead. He was wearing a short sleeved shirt which showed his bulging muscles. He actually looked quite fierce.

However, Josh's threatening looks had no effect on Terry. The only difference between them was that Josh was showing off his new muscles while Terry was hiding them. 'I'd love to help but I've got to take of the customers.'

- 'what customers?'

The doorbell rang and two women came into the shop. 'These ones.' Terry answered. Josh groaned.

'What can I do for you, ladies?' Terry asked in his best "my-only-purpose-in-life-is-to-serve-you" voice.

'I need some toads' legs powder, prowl beans and two bezoars'

'No problemo.' Terry said and bowed his head mockingly, making sure Josh was watching. 'And you ma'am?'

'Dragon's blood, powdered dragon's skin and a dragon's fang, shrunken'

'What kind of potion are you making?' He asked her curiously. From what little information he had about dragons thanks to Charlie, he knew that dragon ingredients were used to make dark stuff.

'Oh, nothing special.' The woman evaded the question and Terry did not press the point. He did not want to be fired for driving customers away. The two women paid and thanked him, then went out of the shop.

'Nice handling of customers for a nine year old.' Josh commented

'Gee, thanks. And I never commented on your heavy lifting skills. They are excellent for a five year old- I mean- nine'

'Hey, lets swap, see if you're so clever'

'Sure.' Terry agreed.

Josh took Terry's place behind the counter, putting his jacket on while Terry, pulling his jacket off, started moving things around in the shop. It was a bit refreshing to do something other than just standing like a statue behind the counter.

The bell rang and two wizards entered the shop. They both had long black robes. One of them had long, black hair complete with a long nose. The other had shoulder length blond hair which was combed neatly backwards. Their looks screamed trouble.

However, Terry just watched to see how Josh was going to take care of them. The scene was very entertaining. Terry just wished he had some popcorn. Instead, he just lifted some more heavy boxes while he watched the scene out of the corner of his eye.

The black haired guy took a small packet from a nearby shelf and put it in his pocket without bothering to hide it. The blond haired guy did the same. They both headed for the door when they heard Josh's voice: 'That'll be five sickles each.'

The blonde guy, who had a long scar running down his cheek turned around slowly.

'Do you know who I am?' He asked in a dangerous, low voice.

Josh looked at him, bored. 'Of course not, do you think you are some kind of a celebrity? If you are then I can't remember seeing you on MTV. Now gimme the money.' He ordered.

'What the hell is MTV? And why should I be seen there?' The guy asked.

'So many questions and so little answers. That's what seems to happen to all idiots.' Josh sing-sang in his still childish nine year old behaviour.

This seemed to have struck a nerve in the guy, who took his wand out quick as a flash. His friend did the same.

'Ooh. Shoplifters. I think you are not gonna pay for the things in your pockets'

'You think right.' The black haired guy commented. 'I didn't expect those high standards from the looks of you.'

'Well, in this case, if you don't pay for it, you don't take it.' Josh said simply. He inclined his head a little and both the men's wands and the stolen packets soared to the table. 'Now, I'll only give these back to you if you are good boys.'

Terry looked on curiously to see if the guys were stupid enough to stay in the shop or clever enough to leave it. Apparently, they were stupid. He could hear the black haired guy whisper 'hey, how'd he do that without his wand?'

- 'who cares.' came his friend's reply.

They both looked at each other, then lunged at Josh. _Wrong move_, Terry thought. These people were only used to fighting with wands, which made them very inexperienced with contact fighting. Josh and Terry, on the other hand, both had quick reflexes from the basketball pitch and very good experience of street fighting, which orphan kids got into pretty often. However, Terry hung back to teach Josh a lesson. He wanted to take care of the customers- and he did. Josh did a backwards flip on the counter and the two men collided with it with their heads. _Ouch_. Terry felt sorry for them. They were both lying on the floor, unconscious.

'What was that noise?' Stan stuck his head from behind the wall to the left of the staircase.

- 'shoplifters' Josh replied casually

Stan looked incredulous- 'how did you do that to them?'

'I didn't.' He replied. 'The idiots just thought it would be a good idea to bump their heads into the counter. Unfortunately, they didn't think about the consequences- the counter is broken.' He said sadly.

Terry sniggered. Stan shook his head, unbelieving, took out his wand and repaired the counter with one flick. 'Keep going boys- you're doing a great job.' He complimented.

When he was out of earshot, Terry said 'that was not fair, I was supposed to be at the counter and only you got to have all the fun. Next time, I'm the one to take care of shop lifters and you're the audience. Hey, I've got an idea, let's take it in turns!'

Josh shrugged 'OK.'

The two men were starting to come to. Josh looked at Terry. 'Here's your turn.' He said. The men run away.

'Hey, no fair. It's still gonna be me next time.'

'Whatever.'



At twelve thirty they were eating lunch. This time they were alone: Charlie went to do some shopping and Stan was nowhere to be seen.

'Life is so great when you are a grown up.' Terry commented 'you can do whatever you want. And no one even scolds you when you get into fights.' The salt soared up in the air and landed in Terry's outstretched hand. 'And you get to eat whatever you want.'

'Hey, how'd you do that? It took me ages of practice to be able to do that right.' Josh said.

'Who said I haven't been practicing?' Terry asked slyly. And he did tell the truth. He has been practicing every time he had the chance to ever since he found out he was a wizard. 'Practice makes perfect, Vladimir.'

'I agree, Renaldo.' Josh replied, and the salt soared out of Terry's hands into Josh's outstretched ones. 'Thank you.'

'At least you have some table manners. You know, I've been thinking, I'm sure we have to buy a wand but I'm a bit scared to do that. You see, wizards here become so dependent on their wands that they are completely vulnerable without it'

'Once again, I agree, wizards around here do get too dependent on their wands- but that is only because they are too lazy to make wandless magic. Most of them even think wandless magic is impossible, like those two fools you saw earlier. This means that after we get a wand, we practice every spell we learn with, and without a wand.'

'Great idea, brother,' Terry said, mimicking Josh. 'Who knows, maybe there is a genius somewhere _deep_ inside you.'

Josh was about to reply, when Charlie entered the kitchen.

'You two seem to be very close to each other. When did you meet?'

'In Hogwarts, of-course.' Josh answered without hesitation. Their original story was that they were supposed to have met in a high school in New York. The problem was that they did not know if there was any magical school around that area. 'We became very good friends as soon as we met each other, right, Renaldo? None of us went anywhere without the other.'

'Yes.' Terry agreed.

'Did you go to the same house?' Charlie asked with interest.

'Huh?'

'I mean were you both in Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff?'

'Grydoor!' Josh exclaimed. -'we were both in Grydoor'

'I like the name,' he whispered to Terry.

'Back to work!' Terry said excitedly after looking at his watch.

'I've never seen anyone who likes to work that much.' Charlie mused out loud.

'Oh, it depends what job you give him. Renaldo likes jobs with action.'

Charlie looked at him blankly. After several seconds he seemed to have reached the same conclusion Terry have reached a very long time ago: Josh was completely, totally and utterly crazy.

'Stop looking at me with this expression.' Josh told Charlie. 'I know what you're thinking, but you should know that shop keeping can contain more action than you might think. It depends on the _way you look at it_.' He said cleverly, quoting Charlie's own words and walking back towards the counter.

After a while, Josh and Terry reached an agreement. They both work on weight-lifting (their version of carrying boxes around), and they take turns serving the customers, when they hear the doorbell, unless it's shoplifters, in which case the turn only counts as the shoplifter turns. Terry was excited to think that the next time there was a shop lifter, it was his turn.

Suddenly, the doorbell rung. Terry looked up. It was his turn both for the counter and for the shop lifters so _he_ had to deal with whoever it was. His heart leapt with joy as he looked at the doorway. There stood the two guys from earlier, only with another, bigger guy.

'_Yesss._' He didn't realise he said it out loud until the three thugs and Josh looked at him; the three thugs looked at him confusedly and Josh looked at him enviously.

'No fair!' he said 'you get three and I only got two'

'Hey, it's not my fault, I didn't get any before that.'

The thugs obviously decided that they were both crazy and wanted to get it over with.

'It was this one.' The blonde said to the new guy. All three started towards Josh.

'Hey, didn't you just hear what me and my partner were talking about?' Terry said, jumping to block their path. 'He's busy, it's my turn now.'

Three wands were suddenly drawn out and pointed at him. 'Get out of the way.'

Terry looked sideways at Josh. He was standing with his arms crossed over his chest, waiting to see what Terry was going to do. Terry decided that he wouldn't take their wands just_ yet_. He did not want to be so unoriginal as to use the same stunts Josh pulled. Instead he was going to try something new.

One of the men fired a hex at him. That was exactly what he wanted him to do. He wanted to try to block spells for the first time before Josh did. That's what he wanted to do- only it didn't work. _Damn_, Terry thought as he used his basketball reflexes to dodge the hex at the last possible second. OK, here comes another chance… get ready… concentrate… the hex was fired. A shield was made up in front of Terry and the spell bounced backwards, hitting the thug square on the chest. He fell to the floor and did not get up.

'What the…' a second thug was saying. Then pulled himself together and fired another hex.

_I__'__m having too much fun_. Terry thought. He did not want to get rid of that man. Instead, he produced a shield which_ absorbed _the spell instead of rebounding it. _Ah, that__'__s better_. He continued blocking the spells, until he became tired and just took their wands.

'How can you guys be so stupid and come back here?' He asked, 'after what he did to you, and he's weaker than me.' He added, inclining his head towards Josh. His hairs stood up in all directions even in this new form.

'Am not!' Josh chimed in. 'I can prove it- step aside.'

But before Terry could refuse or oblige, the three… err… two- thugs were out of the shop.

'That was quite impressive.' Charlie noted from the doorway. Terry was so occupied that he did not notice him watching the whole thing. 'Now I know what you mean by shop keeping being a job with action,' he said, addressing Josh.

'What do you mean? I didn't get to the action yet- I only used magic. I didn't have any time left for contact.' Terry said, receiving the same look Josh received a few hours ago from Stan, only this look came from Charlie.

Charlie shook his head while Josh and Terry got back to work on the boxes.

The two "men" had a good time chatting and working for the rest of the afternoon. After some time, Charlie felt a bit uncomfortable chatting with the two working men while he did nothing, and offered to help.

'Nah, we're, cool. Right, brother?' Terry said

'Right. And, anyway, we're getting paid for this. If you work we'll have to give you some of our money and I'm not that generous.' Josh added.

Charlie laughed. 'You two are unbelievable.' he said.

'Of-course,' Josh said- 'we're two of a kind.'

At coffee break Terry wanted to have a word with Josh privately. They excused themselves and went upstairs to their room.

'What is it?' Josh asked uneasily.

'Well, it's nothing bad, it's just- do you think we can trust Charlie Weasley?' Terry asked, looking a bit uncomfortable.

Josh caught on quickly. 'You mean you want to tell him? No way. I'm definitely not gonna do that. We're gonna be sent straight back to the orphanage.'

'You didn't even hear what I was going to say.' Terry said, annoyed, 'now, listen without interrupting and then tell me what you think.' He paused to look at Josh's reaction. He didn't say anything, so Terry took it as a sign to continue. 'OK, if you think about our situation now, I think we are independent. This means that we'll have to take care of ourselves, which means that we'll also have to find some education. I was thinking Hogwarts. It sounds like a good place, according to Charlie and if we want to apply we need someone who knows about these kinds of things, because, for an obvious reason, I don't think that applying to a wizarding school is the same as applying to a normal school. We can just make Charlie promise he wouldn't tell anyone about us and ask him for help. We don't have much time since he will be leaving tomorrow in the evening.'

Josh looked at him. 'I think you have a point.' He said slowly.

'So, are we agreed?' Terry asked quickly, before Josh could change his mind.

There was a long pause from . 'Yes.'

* * *

Thanks for reading! Reviews are welcome. 

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	3. Chapter 3

OK, here's chapter 3! I made a small mistake before by mixing Charlie's and Bill's identities: Bill was supposed to be the one with the long hair. So I will just have to ignore Bill for the rest of the story.

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****Chapter 3:**

When the two boys got downstairs again, they found Charlie sitting on the chair behind the counter, reading the muggles' magazine again.

He looked up as Terry and Josh walked in and smiled. 'So, are mum and dad finished talking?'

'Yes, actually.' Josh said. Terry gave him a "let-me-do-the-talking" look. He knew that Josh could mess things up quite easily. Josh just shrugged. He seemed to do that a lot lately.

'Listen, Charlie. I want to tell you something, but I want you to promise not to tell anyone, not even Stan.' Terry felt more confident now that he had an actual plan..

Charlie looked taken aback by Terry's serious tone. 'What is it?' He asked, looking at the two boys searchingly.

'You have to give me your word that you won't tell anyone first.'

'Well… OK.' Charlie said, looking curious.

Terry motioned for Josh to continue from there. 'Remember the two kids who came here two days ago asking for a job? That was us.' Josh said dryly.

'What? Why did you come looking for a job as little kids?' He was obviously slow, Terry noted to himself. He actually thought that they were adults who turned themselves into little kids.

'I think you don't understand.' Josh said. 'Here's a better way to put it: My name is Joshua White, not Vladimir Korsakov, and his real name is Terrence Locke.' He said, inclining his head towards Terry. 'Oh, and we are both nine year olds.'

Charlie choked on the tea he was drinking 'WHAT?!'

'Ha, ha, gotcha, this is just a joke. Not. I'm completely serious.' Josh said.

Charlie seemed to believe him. He could obviously put two and two together. Terry could read his thoughts like a book: He knew that the two men standing before him could not possibly know about the two boys who were there two days ago unless they _were_ those kids.

'But, how, and what about your parents? Why did you do that?'

'Sit down and all will be clear!' Josh declared.

'He is already sitting down,' Terry said dryly.

'Oh, right' Josh said stupidly.

'I guess it's gonna be me who is going to explain, since I'm more rational,' Terry said, shooting Josh a dirty look. 'OK, so it all start one fine clear day when me and Josh were found on the doorstep of an orphanage when we were only babies. We grew up together, went to the same school, lived in the same room, but hardly ever talked to each other, which is why we only found out about each other a few days ago. You see, we both knew that we were found on the doorstep of the orphanage but none of us knew that there we were found together. We both thought that each was the only one found'

Josh yawned. 'Hurry up already and stop the poetry.' he remarked.

Terry ignored him. 'As I was saying, we had a real chat for the first time a few days ago. We both knew that we had some kind of power and Josh caught me turning on the light without touching it and knew that I must be like him. We decided to find out more about ourselves. We went out to look for people who looked like wizards and found a man who led us to Powell Place. We explored the place, entered lots of shops, including yours and you know the rest. We have no intention of going back to the orphanage. We think that we are quite capable of looking after ourselves, as we have demonstrated twice already. However, we need your help in finding education and we think you can help us get into Hogwarts.'

Josh raised his eyebrows at him, clearly saying "we?"

Charlie still looked as if he was digesting the information. At last he seemed to have recovered. 'Well, so much for growing up together and going to the same school. I must say you did a great job of naming yourselves.'

'Thank you.' Growled Josh. 'Are you going to help us?'

'Well, I must say, you are quite capable of taking care of yourselves… I don't blame you for not wanting to stay at the orphanage. I wouldn't want to either, if I were in your place. As to registering you to Hogwarts… that is going to be a bit difficult. Most people either register their children before they were born, or a letter is sent to people who never knew they were wizards. However, you will not be receiving that letter because you do not live in Britain. Of course I could always send a letter to the headmaster, but since you don't want to be found, I don't know what to tell him.' Charlie replied thoughtfully. 'But since you are only nine, we have got two whole years to think about a solution. People in the magical world start school at the age of eleven. We can contact each other by owls till then since I'm gonna leave this place soon.'

'There is no need.' Josh said. 'I already have a solution.' Terry and Charlie looked at him eagerly. 'Well, I don't know if it is a very good solution, but it is worth a try. What if you sent him a letter, telling him the whole truth except for the fact that we ran away from the orphanage and that we are currently working. Just tell him you met two wizard boys from a muggle orphanage in New York who are interested to attend his school. Tell him that you will take care of talking to our carers and there is no need to contact them. Just don't tell him which orphanage it is so that he would not be able to send them letters.'

Charlie thought it over in his mind. 'mmm, this could be a good idea if you were talking about any headmaster, but Dumbledore is not stupid. He knows absolutely everything about his students. As soon as your disappearance reaches the news he will check everything to see if the talk is about you.'

'What if our disappearance does not reach the news?' Terry asked slyly.

'Huh?' Two blank faces stared at him. Seriously, was he the only clever person in the universe?

'Well, we could just go to the orphanage and tell them that Josh and me found our family, that we are related after all, that you, Charlie, are our cousin. I know this is a lame story but we can always influence their minds with a bit of magic. What do you say?'

'Sounds good.' Josh said immediately. 'We can go back to the orphanage today, before they contact the newspaper.'

'Great!' Terry agreed.

Charlie did not seem convinced, but he agreed anyway.

'Err… there's just one problem.' Terry said. 'I just remembered, the effect of the potion does not wear off until ten o'clock tomorrow morning.'

'That's not a big problem.' Charlie said. He pulled out his wand, waved it once, and the boys immediately shrunk to their normal size and regained their original faces.

'What are you doing?' Josh shrieked in his normal voice, practically swimming in his enormous cloths, 'we are supposed to stay here till nine o'clock. What if Stan got back?'

'Stan is not back till eleven o'clock, and in case you haven't noticed, the time is already ten o'clock so your shift was over an hour ago' Charlie said exasperatedly. 'So we can be on our way now, come on.'

Terry and Josh quickly changed to their old clothes. As soon as they were finished, they led the now familiar way to the orphanage. When they reached they gray gates, they could see the caretaker coming towards them. 'Who are you?' He asked rudely.

'I found these two children on the other side of town. I figured they belong to you. Can I have a word with their carer?' Charlie asked politely.

'Who's their carer?'

Charlie looked at Terry for support. 'Mrs. Cole.' Terry said, trying to sound frightened.

The gates were opened and they were led inside. The caretaker produced a cell phone from the inside pocket of his coat and dialed a number. After several seconds, someone probably answered on the other side because he said 'Yes, it's me. The two missing children are near the gates. He waited for a second, then looked at the phone, astonished. Apparently, the person on the other side of the line slammed the phone.

A few minutes later, they could see Mrs. Cole running towards them. The sight was very amusing, as the fat woman ran no faster than the children walked, and she nearly fell down once. Terry however, did not have time to even open his mouth to snigger as he was being pulled into a tight hug along with Josh. They looked at each other over her arms, alarmed, as they both choked, fighting for breath. Terry feared the worst when the woman suddenly let go and her relieved expression turned to one of anger. _uh oh_. This was a dangerous situation. He was glad he was not going to stay there to receive whatever punishment she had in mind.

She opened her mouth to shout, obviously she was going to say "what in the name of Merlin…" Terry looked at Josh and they both gulped, ready for the blow.

'I'm sure there's no need to shout.' Charlie said quickly, correctly interpreting the mouth which hung open readily.

Mrs. Cole closed her mouth and looked at Charlie with narrowed eyes. 'And you would be…?'

'Charlie Weasley.' He answered, extending his hand. 'I'm these boys' cousin.'

Mrs. Cole's mouth dropped open again. 'For one thing, these two boys do not have any family, also, we performed a DNA test on them and they are not related in any way, so they can't have the same cousin.' Mrs. Cole said, looking disapprovingly at his long ponytail and fang shaped earring. Obviously, he looked like some kind of criminal. She turned towards the two boys and was going to usher them into the building when Charlie pulled out his wand and pointed it at her.

She suddenly stopped, her face blank. 'These two children are my cousins.' He said clearly. 'I have come here to inform you that they will be living with me from now on since they are my family. There is nothing wrong with that and you are not going to ask any questions.' he informed her.

'Of-course,' Mrs. Cole answered, face still blank, 'You can take the boys now, everything will be sorted out for you.'

'Thank you.' Charlie said politely and, motioning for the two kids to follow him, walked towards the gates.

'Hey, that was awesome!' Terry exclaimed as they walked back towards Powell Place.

'Yeah, it's so cool, seeing Mrs. Cole following orders.' Josh said.

'Totally!' Terry added.

Charlie looked at them and shook his head.

Fortunately, they arrived at "Quick Potion" before Stan did, so they had time to drink their potions and change their appearance back to the grown up mode.

The three friends sat at the table, seeping coffee and talking merrily. Stan arrived later than expected and joined them. He looked very tired but he seemed happy with something. He told them that they were doing a great job and gave them their money. Terry felt a bit sorry that Charlie was leaving tomorrow. He started liking the guy, but he knew that they were going to write to each other. Charlie said that he was going to send Dumbledore a letter tomorrow, and, for the first time in his life, Terry felt completely happy and free.



Months passed by very quickly after Charlie was gone. Terry and Josh earned enough money to be able to afford their own living, but Stan insisted that they stayed there. 'A man gets lonely, living alone all the time, I need some company, and, anyway, no thief has gotten near this place in ages, you have any idea how much money I have earned thanks to you two? I should give you a rise in salary,' he had said.

Terry and Josh refused politely, but did not argue about the accommodation. They have grown used to living with Stan and liked his company. They have spent one and a half years working for him and have used their time as usefully as possible. They both bought wands and their first year school books and have studied and practiced all of the spell they needed to know for their first year with and without a wand.

They also bought two brooms, which were a bit expensive so they had to save some money for that. It took them six months to be able to buy them, but at least they were good ones. Well, not as good as the Nimbus 2000, but close enough. They soon found out that they were both as good at flying as at playing basketball and they had a good time flying around on their broom on Sundays and Saturday. Sometimes Stan even joined them but he was not as good as they were. He did not believe them that they have never flown on a broom before, at first, and had told them they were naturals.

Although they did not know when they birthday was, they knew that they were nearing the age of eleven and they couldn't wait for their Hogwarts letters to arrive.

Charlie wrote to them very often from Romania and told them that Dumbledore was "informed of their existence", in his words, and that they were going to be sent a letter inviting them to Hogwarts when the time came. The time came a few days later.

They received a letter, addressing them by their real names, that they have been accepted to Hogwarts and telling them which books they were supposed to have. They bought all of those books two years ago because Charlie told them what the books they needed were.

Terry bought a large, beautiful owl and he named her Hedwig because he read that name in one of his schoolbooks and did not know what other names you could call an owl.

They only had one dilemma: They did not know what to tell Stan about why, or where they were going, and they could not just disappear without saying anything as they were planning on returning back in their holidays. The dilemma, however, was solved very quickly and efficiently. They told Stan that they have both been offered places as teachers in Hogwarts school, which was as close to the truth as possible. This way, Stan could also know where they were and send them letters. They told him they were going to return in the holidays.

Stan was a bit sad that they were leaving but he understood that they wanted to "revisit their old school."

A day before their departure, they went over how they were supposed to get to Kings Cross station in England, from which they were supposed to take the Hogwarts express. They already had the tickets, which were sent to them by owl from Charlie's family in England, who got the tickets for free because of their father's connections in the ministry of magic.

Stan was a big help. They decided to fly to the station on their brooms. Stan did the rest. He enchanted their brooms and trunks to be invisible and gave them a potion which would make them invisible themselves, so the muggles could see nothing. At last, he gave them both two compasses which he enchanted to point in the direction of Kings Cross station so they would not have trouble finding their way.

They were ready to leave at four o'clock in the morning because it was going to be a long journey to fly. Terry and Josh thanked Stan for the hundredth's time, said goodbye, and gulped down the potions which would make them invisible. Stan said that one tap on their head with the wand would remove the invisibility spell both from themselves and from their trunks and brooms.

They also thought about their appearances. They drunk their potions at five a.m. the day before so that by the time the effects of the potions wore off, they would be both invisible and very far away from Stan.

Everything was perfect. Except for the journey itself. It was very alarming, flying high over the ground without being able to see their brooms or each other. They kept flying close together and talking loudly to each other so that they would not lose each other. Although each could see the other's compass, it often disappeared and reappeared behind a cloud.

They arrived at Kings Cross at ten thirty. Good, they had some time to go to the public toilets to change their enormous clothes and to make themselves visible again.

As soon as he landed, Terry sensed that something was wrong by the looks of the people around him.

_The compass_. People could see the compass floating around in the air. _Uh oh_.Apparently, Terry's companion noticed it too because his compass suddenly went soaring towards the public toilet.

It took Terry a few seconds to realize that Josh was running and a few more seconds to follow. As soon as he entered the toilets, he quickly pointed his wand to his head and instantly reappeared. He saw Josh reappearing next to him. They quickly entered separate toilet rooms and changed their oversized clothes without saying a word.

They got out of the toilets looking like two normal boys, save the fact that they both had a broom in their trolley and that Terry had an owl in a cage. Terry tried to ignore the looks people shot his trolley and looked around for his platform.

He got the train ticket and read the big letters: _Platform nine and three quarters_, it read. Terry looked between platforms nine and ten, but could not see anything special. He decided to look for a witch or wizard and ask them.

He looked around for someone who might have looked out of the ordinary when, suddenly, he saw something that almost made his eyes bulge out of their sockets. Could it be…? No, what would he be doing in Britain? But still, he was almost sure that the man standing near the wall of platform ten was Lupine. That was perfect. Lupine will obviously know how to get onto the platform.

'Lupine?' Terry asked uncertainly. He saw Josh turning his head around, puzzled.

The man immediately turned his head.

'Oh, sorry, I thought you were someone else.' Terry quickly apologized as he saw the man's face.

The man looked at him for a few seconds, confused. 'My name _is _Lupine.' He said.

It took Terry only a few seconds to understand what was going on. He looked at the man, amazed. 'Are you by any chance _Remus_ Lupine?'

'Yes,' the man answered, 'do I know you?' he asked, looking as if he tried to remember something.

Josh, who was listening to the whole thing, suddenly split his face in a wide grin. 'No, you don't know us.' He answered. Remus looked at him in surprise, noticing Josh for the first time. 'We just had a little "run-in" with your brother back in New York, Jonathan, and he happened to mention you.' Josh explained.

Josh and Terry looked at each other, then, not being able to control themselves, burst out laughing at the memory of the man they had dressed in such a ridiculous way.

The man looked at them for a while longer. Then realization dawned on his face and he also started laughing. 'Yes.' He said, 'I think I know who you are. My brother back in New York mentioned you to me in his letters. I'm afraid the word fashion and his name do not go together in the same sentence.' He said, for which Josh and Terry laughed even harder.

When their laughter died down a bit, Terry noticed Remus looking down at them with a frown on his face. 'What?' Terry asked.

Remus's frown deepened 'Nothing.' He said- 'You two just remind me of someone'

'Really?' Josh asked, interested. 'who's that?'

'It's someone who died a long time ago. Ten years ago, in fact. His name was James Potter and he was one of my best friend when we both went to Hogwarts. Him and Sirius Black. It's strange. You both look like James. You have his face,' he addressed Terry. 'and you have his eyes,' this one was directed at Josh.

Terry's breath caught in his throat. 'Did your friend have a wife?' he asked.

He heard Josh gasp beside him. As usual, Josh has been able to guess what Terry was thinking.

'It's funny you should mention that.' Remus said. 'he did have a wife, Lilly Evens.' Then he stopped and looked at Terry. He gasped.

'What?' Terry asked again.

'No, this can't be possible…' The man mumbled and continued to look at Terry with wide eyes. Then his eyes traveled to the scar Terry had on his forehead. 'w… where did you get that scar?' He stuttered.

Terry looked at him warily. 'I always had it.' He answered. 'why?'

'Your eyes… they look a lot like Lilly's. She was James' wife.' Remus replied. Then his eyes traveled to Josh and he looked at them thoughtfully, then smiled nervously. 'Hey, stop looking at me in that way, I was only joking, it's not like I'm suggesting I know who your parents were. James only had one son anyway.'

Something about the way he said the last sentence arose Terry's suspicion. He seemed to have been unsure of himself. But why would he lie about how many sons his former best friend used to have? Terry decided the man was crazy.

Lupine was mumbling something to himself when Josh said, 'look, I'm really sorry to interrupt your conversation with… err… yourself, but could you please tell us how to get onto platform nine and three quarters?

Remus seemed to snap back to present instantly at Terry's question, 'Sure, see that wall over there? Well, just go through it.' He seemed pretty embarrassed at his behavior and tried to sound as normal as possible. He probably decided that it was just a coincidence.

Terry was not sure what the man meant by going through the wall but did not want to spend anymore time in the crazy man's company.

Terry and Josh started walking towards the wall and, as soon as they were out of Remus's earshot, Terry said 'What do you think? A complete nutcase, huh?'

'I don't know.' Josh answered. Josh seemed to have been affected by what the weirdo was saying

'Oh, snap out of it, brother,' Terry said, not noticing that he now used the term brother unconsciously, 'if you start believing every crazy man on the street who says that you are his friend's son, you are going to end up as crazy as them.' He said, examining the wall. 'What do you think we're supposed to do?' He asked Josh, feeling the wall with his hand. His fingers sunk into the wall as if there was nothing there. _Cool_.

'Well, now you know.' Josh replied coldly, stepping into the wall without hesitation.

'Hey, wait for me!' Terry stepped into the wall after him, dragging both his trunk and Josh's forgotten trunk behind him.

'Thanks.' Josh said without giving Terry some time to recover or to look around him. He just took his trunk and started climbing onto the train Terry did not even had a chance to see when he just got onto the platform.

_Wow, this place is amazing!_ Terry looked around him; There were hundreds of witches and wizards around them, all wearing long robes and some even wearing pointed hats; the train itself was a steam engine. It was very old fashioned, painted in red, and it was _huge_. To his right, there was a sign: _Platform nine and three quarters._

Terry quickly climbed onto the train and looked for the compartment Josh has taken. He found it instantly by the shouts which came from within it. Terry sighed. Trust Josh to get himself into a fight before they even reached the school.

He hurried to the compartment before any damage could be done. There, he saw, surprise, surprise, Josh wrestling a red headed kid about their age to the ground. He sighed. 'What's going on?' he had to shout these words for Josh and the red headed kid to lift their heads up and look at him.

'Oh, hello, brother,' Josh said. 'You are just in time to witness the first man… or kid, in the world being beheaded without a knife.' He said cheerfully.

The red headed boy groaned weakly. 'What do you want from me?' He asked.

Terry looked at Josh. 'What did the kid do to you?' He asked, interested.

Surprisingly, it was the boy who answered. He struggled against Josh, who had both of the poor kid's hands pinned tightly behind his back. Then he said: 'He didn't want to let me into the compartment. He said the seat was saved for someone so I told him that there was more than one seat and the compartment was not his anyway!' He said in a whiny voice, as if Terry was his mummy and was going to solve all of his problems for him. Terry noticed that the boy had the same tight, British accent as Charlie. _I can be such an idiot sometimes_. Terry scolded himself silently. He _was_ in Britain. Everyone around here was supposed to have the same damn accent.

Terry looked at Josh and sighed. 'He's right, brother, let him go.' He didn't want to get into trouble before he even arrived at school.

'_Why?_' Josh asked, 'you know that we're not gonna get lots of chances now that we're not at Stan's place anymore.' he said, almost pouting, referring to the fights they got into when "dealing with shop lifters."

Terry gave him a warning glance.

Josh grimaced, looking disappointed, but let go of the boy's hands nonetheless. The boy sighed a sigh of relief and seated himself on the nearest chair, rubbing his hands. Terry raised his eyebrows at him. Did the kid have a death wish?

Reading his expression, the boy shrunk further into his chair. 'Everywhere else is full.' he whispered.

'Whatever' Terry said, bored.

The boy looked at him thankfully. 'My name's Ronald Weasley, by the way, Ron for short.' He said, extending his hand

Josh's eyes lit up. 'Hey, you're Charlie's brother, aren't you? your brother's cool, man, say hello to him from me. Well, actually, you don't have to, we write to each other all the time.' He said, ignoring Ron's outstretched hand.

Ron looked at Josh with surprise and confusion. 'You know my brother?' He asked incredulously.

'Sure,' this time it was Terry who answered. 'He's a nice guy. By the way, I'm Terrence Locke and this is Joshua White. Your brother probably mentioned us?' Terry didn't want to start bullying him, after all, he was Charlie's brother…

The same thoughts seemed to have crossed Josh's mind because he was now grinning at Ron. Terry looked at Ron carefully. If Josh hoped that Ron was like his brother then he was going to be highly disappointed. Ron looked like a complete wimp.

'Well, no, actually, he haven't.' Ron said, almost apologetically.

Josh looked genuinely surprised. 'No? but he was the one who asked your father to give us free tickets for the train.'

Ron shrugged, looking warily from Josh to Terry. 'How did you two meet him anyway? He is staying in Romania at the moment.'

'We met him two years ago in New York, that's where we're from.' Josh answered.

'How come you two are together? Are you brothers or something?'

'That's a question I do not want to attempt to answer, kid.' Terry said wearily.

Ron looked confused. 'kid?' He looked like he wanted to snigger but was too scared to do so. 'You're the same age as me.'

Josh exchanged a knowing glance with Terry. They were both used to being twenty six year old men, but of-course, they were not going to tell Ron that. If his brother didn't tell him, it was his problem. Instead, they just ignored him and started talking about other stuff like two grown ups making a conversation they thought little kids could not understand.

'Do you think Stan is alright now? I hope he found new workers.' Terry said.

'I don't know, Renaldo, but he's definitely going to have some trouble without us there to help him.'

Terry raised his eyebrows at the mention of his fake name. Did Josh do it on purpose or had he just gotten used to calling him by that name? 'Well, _Vlady_, I don't know, but I'm definitely gonna miss my job.' He said, 'It was _sooo_ much fun.'

'Tell me about it.' Josh murmured.

Ron looked at them with interest, but before he could ask anything, the door to their compartment slid open and a slim girl with bushy brown hair stood at the doorway.

'Have any of you seen a toad?' She asked. She had a bossy voice and Terry decided instantly that he did not like her. 'A boy named Neville has lost one.'

Terry looked at Josh lazily. 'Have you seen any toad, brother?' He asked him.

'No.' Josh answered, bored. 'Have you seen any?' That was their key to driving people mad. They just _loved_ doing that to people.

'I certainly didn't.' Terry answered with obvious fake concern.

The girl looked at them with narrowed eyes. 'If you took something that's not yours you'd better return it.' She said warningly.

Terry put on an innocent look. 'Vlady, did you see me taking any toad from anyone?'

'I didn't.' Josh answered in the same tone Terry used. 'I think whoever stole that toad did a very bad thing, don't you, Renaldo?'

'Definitely.' Terry answered, noding his head.

The girl looked at them with disgust and stormed out of the compartment.

'Such bad manners' Josh said, shaking his head sadly. Then they both burst out laughing.

Ron sensed that it was supposed to be a joke, but he wasn't certain whether to laugh or not. 'Did you two steal that toad?' He asked.

Terry stopped laughing. So did Josh. 'Do we look that bored to you?' Terry asked him with disgust.

'Yeah, we've got better things to do.' Josh added.

Ron looked taken aback and did not say another word for the rest of the ride, which highly amused both Terry and Josh. They continued to chat in the grown up tone they have gotten used to after two years, but it was mainly for the entertainment of watching Ron's bewildered expression.

Suddenly, the door to their compartment slid open again and the face of an old, smiling lady peered in. 'Anything off the trolley dears?' For some reason, Ron's ears went pink.

'Yeah, I'm starving.' Terry said. 'What have you got?'

The woman let them chose whatever they wanted from the trolley. Josh got some strange sweets which had all kinds of flavors, including earwax, pepper and vomit. Terry wrinkled his nose and got himself a chocolate frog, which was just a normal chocolate, only it was in the shape of a frog and was enchanted to be able to move. Each pack also contained a card for people to collect. Terry gave his card to Ron and paid from the money he earned during the two years he worked for Stan.

A few hours later, the train slowed down and Terry knew that they almost arrived at Hogwarts. He smiled with happiness: He has waited for this moment ever since he found out about the school. Terry, Josh and Ron all pulled on the uniform they had to wear while staying at the school, which was basically just normal, wizards' robes and cloaks, only it had the school's badge sewn upon it.

The train finally came to a halt and a magical voice sounded through the train telling the students to get out of the train and to leave their luggage inside. Terry took a deep breath. _Here goes nothing_. He got up and started walking along with the stream of other excited students. _Hogwarts, here I come!_

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PLEASE review! I want to know what you think and if I should make any changes. Thanks for everyone who reviewed till now! 


	4. Chapter 4

OK, this is the fourth chapter! sorry I didn't write sooner; I've been kinda busy, but I have three chapters ready today (yippy!)

Oh, and thanks for everyone who reviewed! I have a reason for Terry and Josh's magical abilities, but it's gonna be long till you find out about it. Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy the next three chapters!**

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****Chapter 4:**

After crossing a big lake with the rest of the first year students and a giant man called Hagrid, Terry and Josh found themselves in a big room with professor Mcgonagal, a teacher who looked like she was stricter than Mrs. Cole, if that was possible; she was thin and pale and had very thin lips.

'Wait here.' She instructed the students, 'I will call you when you are ready to be sorted into your houses. The sorting ceremony will begin momentarily.' and walked out of the room.

As much as Terry wanted to go to Hogwarts, he knew that his stay at the school was going to be very boring. He was already much ahead of everyone since he had the advantage of being able to use a wand before arriving to school because of his grown up appearance (children under the age of 17 were not allowed to use magic outside the school). He even thought that his magical abilities exceeded that of most grown up wizards since he was able to perform all the spells he knew with _and_ without a wand.

'What house do you want to go to?' Ron was standing near him and was looking quite nervous. Terry didn't know what he had to be so scared for. He looked around at the rest of the students. They all looked as scared as Ron did. _Pathetic_.

'I don't really know, but I wouldn't mind going to Gryffindor.' Terry replied, bored.

'All of my brothers went to Hogwarts and they've all been sorted to Gryffindor. Fred and George told me you get chosen into a house after you fight a troll.' Ron said, looking more scared than ever.

Josh, who has not been paying attention to their conversation till now, suddenly turned his head with interest. 'Fight a troll? That sounds great! I never got a chance of doing that before. Did your brothers tell you what it was like? How big was it?' He asked excitedly.

Someone in the large group of students sniggered. Terry and Josh both looked around to see a tall boy who was wearing expensive looking robes; he had very blond hair, almost white, which was combed back neatly with gel. There were two oversized kids standing either side of him who looked like they could have been his bodyguards. 'Fight a troll? Apparently, not everyone is sufficiently informed about the school they were going to. What makes you think you would be able to fight a troll anyway?' The last question was directed at Josh sneeringly.

'Believe me, I have had to fight things much worse than a troll.' Josh said carelessly, winking at Terry, who smiled back.

The boy laughed. 'You are not the first person I met with such illusions.' He told Josh, then turning to Terry, he said, 'you'd better watch who you make friends with. I'm Malfoy, by the way; _Draco_ Malfoy.'

Something about the way he said it probably amused Ron because he let out a violent snort.

Malfoy turned around sharply, 'you think my name is funny, do you?' he asked Ron, looking him up and down. 'No need to ask yours. Red hair, and hanging down robes, you're probably a _Weasley_.' He said the last word as though it was filth. Then, let out a startled gasp as both Terry and Josh got out their wands. The crowd of first year students suddenly fell silent, watching the scene with interest.

'You better watch your mouth, _Malfoy_, or you're going to end up in a very sticky situation.' Terry said lightly. He liked Charlie, and hearing someone criticize his family could make his "harmless to dangerous" scale up to ten reach quite an alarming level.

Josh, apparently, felt the same way, 'I think you should listen to him.' He advised. 'Growing up with him, I have learnt that messing up with this guy should not be anyone's top priority, since their physical state is unlikely to stay the same, in small words. Of course, if you put me into the picture, it makes your situation _waaay_ worse.' He added in a calm tone, inclining his head towards Terry. 'Don't you agree, brother?' He asked Terry.

'Definitely.' Terry replied casually, wondering how many times they could repeat the same game.

Malfoy looked positively alarmed at their reaction, but tried to look as calm as possible. He looked at their drawn wands warily and opened his mouth to say something when the door opened and professor Mcgonagal was back.

The teacher looked at the wands Terry and Josh were pointing at Malfoy. 'What is going on?' She asked dangerously.

'Nothing, professor, me and Terry were just showing Malfoy our new wands.' Josh said innocently, putting the wand back into his robes.

Mcgonagal, apparently not wanting to have to deal with problematic students before they were even sorted into their houses, just narrowed her eyes. 'We are ready for you now, you may enter the great hall.' She said, completely ignoring Josh's statement. Luckily. Josh definitely needed to learn how to do this thing properly.

All of the first year students crowded into the hall and, immediately, cries of surprise were uttered out of everyone. Terry couldn't blame them; the place was _huge_; it contained four large tables, each with different colors, which probably stood for their houses, and one smaller table, which was large nonetheless and stood taller in front of all the other tables. This table did not have a particular color. The people sitting at it looked older than everyone else and were obviously the teachers. At the middle of the table there was the largest chair in which sat an old wizard with a long beard and moon shaped glasses. Terry assumed he must be the headmaster, Dumbledore. There were hundreds of candles floating in the air, about ten feet above the ground.

Looking up at the candles, Terry suddenly noticed that there was no ceiling. After some time, he came to a conclusion that the place must be enchanted somehow because he could not feel the cold, a conclusion which was quickly confirmed by the annoying brown haired girl he met on the train;

'It's not real, the ceiling.' He heard her say to another girl. 'It's just bewitched to look like the sky. I read about it in "Hogwarts: A History".'

Mcgonagal made all the first year students stand in line. 'When you hear your name being called out, sit on that stool and put the hat on.' She instructed.

Terry looked around and saw a small stool sitting in front of the rest of the pupils, on which sat a hat.

'Burns Susan.' He heard Mcgonagal call.

The girl who was talking to the brown haired girl from the train earlier walked nervously towards the stool and put the hat on. She looked like she was going to faint any minute. After a few minutes, the hat shouted 'HUFFLEPUFF.' The girl pulled the hat off and ran towards the Hufflepuff table, the older students clapping loudly.

The rest of the students were sorted in alphabetical order. Malfoy was sorted into Slytherin. Terry decided that he did not want to be in that house. This was probably the house for the idiotic people. A small dark haired boy with a pointy nose was sorted into Ravenclaw; The brown haired girl from the train was called Hermione Granger and was sorted into Gryffindor; Ron was also sorted into Gryffindor. He was so relieved to be in the same house as his brothers that as soon as the hat shouted the house name he ran off with the hat towards the Gryffindor table. Mcgonagal had to run after him to get the hat and the rest of the people laughed loudly. Ron's ears turned red, but he recovered quickly and went to sit at the Gryffindor table.

Finally, it was Terry's turn. He walked confidently towards the stool. He wasn't like all these other idiots who were scared of… what was it they were scared of? He put the hat on and was immediately startled by a voice: 'Interesting, _very_ interesting.' The hat apparently talked to everyone quietly and shouted the house names loudly. 'Plenty of courage, I see,' it went on, 'not a bad mind either, and a thirst to prove yourself. But where to put you?'

'_Gryffindor?' _Terry thought.

'You want Gryffindor, huh? But Slytherin could also be right for you, yes, there's no doubt about that…' the hat could, apparently, read Terry's thoughts.

'_Oh, shut up,' _Terry said in his head once he figured that the hat could understand him, _'I told you already, I want Gryffindor.'_

'Mmm, you could do well in Gryffindor… then again, there is still a part of you which is ambitious… you could do very well in Slytherin as well,' the hat said. Terry swore under his breath and promised himself that he was going to tear the hat to hundreds of small pieces if he was put in Slytherin. The hat probably picked the thought up, as it sounded panicked when it spoke again, 'Well, OK, OK, if you insist, it will be… GRYFFINDOR.' the hat shouted the house name out loud.

The Gryffindors applauded loudly as Terry walked towards their table and took a sit beside Ron, who was sitting next to two identical red headed boys who were probably his brothers.

'White, Joshua.' Mcgonagal called. Terry looked interestedly as Josh walked as confidently as Terry did towards the stool. It took the hat about ten minutes to decide, but it finally shouted 'GRYFFINDOR.'

Josh looked pleased with himself as he walked towards the Gryffindor table and sat next to Terry. 'It was OK.' He said. 'Too bad we didn't get to fight a troll, though.'

One of Ron's brothers looked up in surprise. 'Hey, did our rumor spread that fast?' He asked, looking surprised. 'I hope it reached the rest of the first years.' He added.

Josh looked at him. 'That's not very nice. You are giving people false hopes.' He said.

The boy, who looked at least fourteen years old and was much taller than Ron, looked at him in astonishment, then turned to his twin brother. 'Hey, George, I think I just found someone with a sense of humor weirder than ours.' He said. He really did sound puzzled.

George looked up from his conversation with Ron. 'I'm afraid that's impossible, my dear brother.' He said, looking at Terry and Josh with interest.

Ron blushed. 'Err, sorry guys, my brothers aren't that good at manners. This is Fred and that's George.' He said, indicating each identical twin in turn. Then he turned to Fred and George. 'These are Terry and Josh.' He told them, indicating each of them as well. 'They say they know Charlie.'

'Yes, I think Charlie mentioned them, once or twice in his letters.' Fred said.

Terry yawned. He didn't know how Charlie's family could be so different from him. They were all so boring. He couldn't wait to start eating.

'Let the feast begin.' He heard Dumbledore exclaim. Wow, it was exactly like magic. You just had to think something and it came true. Apparently, that sentence was the only part of the long speech Dumbledore has just made which Terry has heard, fortunately for Terry.

Suddenly, the tables were filled with huge amounts of food. Terry has never seen so much food on one table in his life. However, he did not waste any time looking around. He poured a little of everything into his golden plate and started eating in a way not very different from Mrs. Cole. He didn't realize how hungry he was till he saw the food.

He did not notice how the time passed, but eventually, Dumbledore told the prefects to show the first year students to their dormitories. The prefect for the Gryffindor house was, surprise, surprise, _another_ Weasley. This one was called Percy. Terry got up from his chair heavily. He noticed that his trousers were a bit tighter than an hour ago. _Damn, did I eat _that_ much?_

Percy led them to a portrait of a fat lady. 'Password?' The portrait demanded.

'Peanut butter.' Percy replied. The portrait swung aside and they all climbed inside to the common room. This room looked really cozy; there was a fireplace at the far end and overstuffed red sofas were placed everywhere.

'The boys' dormitories are to the right. Girls, to your left. You will find that all your belongings have been brought up for you.' Percy said.

Terry climbed blindly up the stairs to the boys' dormitories. He was so tired he would give anything for a bed. When he got to the room, barely aware that he was blocking the path of his four new roommates and Josh, who were standing behind him, his eyes scanned the six four poster beds until they settled on the one with his luggage underneath it. He climbed into it without changing into his pajamas and fell asleep instantly.



'Terry, _Terry_, wake up.'

'Huh? Whass', the matter?' Terry mumbled, as he felt a hand shaking him roughly. 'Stop it.'

'It's already seven o'clock, we don't have much time.' It was Josh's voice.

'So what? We have lots of time. Wake me up at nine thirty.' Terry answered sleepily.

In response, Josh's hand grasped one of Terry's ankles and yanked him off the bed.

'Ouch! I'm gonna kill you, Josh, you are dead in five minutes.' Terry said and, all tiredness forgotten, he jumped to his feet and hurled himself at the nearest figure, which he assumed to be Josh. The figure made no attempt to move out of the way. _Weird_._ That__'__s not like Josh_._ Why didn__'__t he try to defend himself? _Terry slammed into its stomach, head first. Hard.

'_Oof!_' Terry heard the air being knocked out of the figure. He looked down in surprise to see Neville Longbottom, one of his new roommates, on the floor below him, clutching his stomach painfully. Terry looked up again to see the three astonished faces of the rest of his roommates and the one amused face of Josh.

'Way to go, brother.' Josh cheered. 'I never seen you aim better than that in ages. Keep it up and we'll have this room completely to ourselves.'

Terry swore loudly. He completely forgot that he was at Hogwarts. He was sure that he was still at Powell Place, where he could wake up as late as he wanted, as long as it was before ten o'clock in the morning. He looked down at Neville. 'Sorry.' He said, not meaning it, 'I thought you were Josh.'

Still clutching his stomach, Neville got up to his feet with difficulty. 'Do you always greet each other like this in the morning?' He gasped, still short of breath.

'Nah, only sometimes, depending on our mood,' Josh said carelessly, 'anyway, we're supposed to be down at the great hall for our timetables,' he added as if nothing has happened, looking at Terry, but addressing everyone in the room.

When no one made a move, Josh said, exasperated, 'Don't worry about Terry, he does that all the time, you either have to get used to him or to avoid him for the rest of your lives. I'm just surprised I haven't sustained any serious injuries from him yet, after having to live with him ever since I was born.'

'Look who's talking.' Terry shot back.

Ron, who was standing near Dean and Seamus, shook his head. 'I've got to contact Charlie to find out what's wrong with you two. Who knows, maybe the orphanage you came from was one for the highly insane people.'

Josh looked at him with steady, brown eyes. 'Watch your tongue.' He said dangerously. 'If you weren't Charlie's brother you would have been dead back on the train.'

'Hey, I was only joking.' Ron said in his small voice.

'Was that supposed to be a threat?' Seamus asked Josh heatedly, at the same time as Ron spoke.

'It depends on the way you look at it.' Josh answered, ignoring Ron and answering the more challenging question. Terry could see from his face that he hoped this was going to lead to a fight. Of course, Terry was not against violence, but he did not want to start fighting with the people he was going to live with every day for the rest of the year.

'Cut it out, Vlady,' he said. He noticed that it was hard for him to stop calling Josh by that name now that he started to. Old habits die hard. 'Just ignore him.' Terry advised Seamus, 'you will find your life would be much easier that way.'

'Hey, what's that supposed to mean? It was _me_ who was supposed to criticize _you_, not the other way round.' Josh almost wailed.

'Whatever.' Terry said, resisting the urge to shake his head. 'Anyway, I think we should go down to the great hall. You don't have to come with us if you don't want to.' He addressed Dean, Seamus, Ron and Neville.

Everyone looked around nervously, then, they all started shuffling towards the door. They arrived at the great hall as a large group of six people at seven twenty. They quickly seated themselves at the table and ate breakfast as quickly as they could.

At precisely seven thirty, Mcgonagal, who was the head of Gryffindor house, walked along the long table, giving everyone their timetables. Terry quickly scanned his one. All of the lessons were distributed according to the houses. The Gryffindor first years had potions with the Slytherins, defense against the dark arts with the Slytherins, divination with the Ravenclaws, History of magic with the Hufflepuffs, charms with Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws, flying lessons with the Slytherins and transfiguration with the Slytherins and Ravenclaws.

Their first lesson was potions, with the Slytherins. Terry walked with Josh towards the dungeons, where the lesson was supposed to take place. The class was cold and dark and was already half full. Terry could not see any Gryffindors apart from himself, Josh, and Hermione Granger, who took a seat at the front of the class. The rest of the people were Slytherins. A quick glance at his watch told him that he was five minutes early. He walked with Josh to the back and sat down as comfortably as he could on the hard wooden chair.

Five minutes later, the class was full. The Gryffindor boys took their seats as far as possible from Terry and Josh, for which Terry was thankful, but to his dismay, the last people to arrive were the Gryffindor girls, who had no choice but to take the last unoccupied seats, which were the ones on the same table as Terry and Josh.

The door to the dungeons suddenly burst open and a man in billowing black robes came storming into the classroom. He had greasy black hair and a long nose, and he rather reminded Terry of an overgrown bat.

'I am professor Snape,' The man said quietly, 'and I'm here to teach you the delicate art of potions. Unlike what some of you might think, making potions is not just adding a few ingredients to a cauldron carelessly. You have to be… Mr. Longbottom, what do you think you are doing?'

Neville blushed. 'I… I was just copying down what you wrote on the board.' He stammered.

'Is that what I told you to do?' Snape asked icily. 'Five points from Gryffindor.'

Terry looked around. There were at least five more students, all of whom were Slytherins, and one of them included Malfoy, who were writing in their notebooks. Clearly, Snape, who was the head of Slytherin, was favoring his own house.

'If that's so,' Terry said, 'you have to take twenty five points from Slytherin.'

Snape's cold eyes slowly traveled across the room towards where Terry was sitting. His eyes narrowed as he took in Terry's appearance. 'I am very glad you can do your math,' he said coldly, 'but I will not tolerate students who push their noses into their teachers' decisions. What is your name?'

'Terrence Locke.'

'Terrence Locke, what?'

'It's just Terrence Locke.' Terry answered, putting on an innocent look, knowing exactly what Snape meant.

'Terrence Locke, _sir_.' Snape hissed dangerously.

'There's no need to call me sir, professor.' Terry answered lightly.

A few students sniggered. Some looked at him as though he has lost his mind (well, that was only Hermione) and Neville looked at him thankfully. Ron, Dean and Seamus all looked awed.

Snape stared at him with his cold, black eyes. Terry held his gaze. They stayed like that for a few minutes, none willing to give up until they heard Josh yawn loudly. 'Hey, cut it out, will you, professor, you are supposed to play a model for your class.' He said lazily, addressing Snape.

Snape's eyes snapped angrily towards Josh. 'And you would be?'

'Joshua White.'

'Joshua White, what?' Snape asked automatically.

'It's just Joshua White.' Josh answered carelessly.

Snape's nostrils flared angrily. 'I WILL NOT TOLERATE CHEECK IN MY CLASROOM. TWENTY FIVE POINTS FROM GRYFFINDOR. EACH.' He added, addressing Terry as well as Josh.

'Gee, there's no need to shout, we're not deaf, right, Josh?' Terry said, not being able to control himself. He loved watching people get angry and he especially liked it when he was the one to cause it. For some reason, it seemed even more tempting for him with Snape.

'Of course, brother.' Josh replied, not taking his eyes off Snape. 'Some people are so unobservant.'

Snape looked carefully from one boy to the other. 'You think you're so clever, huh?' Snape snapped. 'Which of you could tell me what a bezoar is used for?'

Josh looked at Terry. 'Do you want me to answer, Terry? Or perhaps you would prefer to do it yourself?'

'No, no, the pleasure is all mine, Josh.' Terry, answered with an innocent look, then looking at Snape, he said, 'It is used as a choking remedy. How many points do I get for the right answer?'

Snape looked madder than ever. 'I do not have time for your stupid games. I have a class to teach.' Then his eyes widened as he looked at his watch.

_Class dismissed_, Terry thought happily.

'Detention! Both of you, tonight at ten o'clock, in my office.' Snape said, then addressing the whole class, 'class dismissed.'

Terry and Josh walked out of the classroom together. 'Hogwarts is so much more fun than I thought it would be.' Terry told Josh. 'I just hope the rest of the teachers are as nice as him.'

Josh nodded, opening his mouth to say something, when they heard Seamus's voice behind them. 'Hey, that was cool.' He told them. The rest of their roommates, Neville, Ron and Dean, were also with him.

'Yeah,' Ron agreed, 'and I'm glad you did that to him- Fred and George tell me he's evil.'

Their next class was transfiguration, with professor Mcgonagal. Terry hoped she was going to favor the Gryffindor students as much as Snape favored the Slytherins. However, as he entered the class with his five roommates, she let him down.

'You are late.' Mcgonagal said as she saw the group of Gryffindors. 'Five points will be taken from Gryffindor.'

'We got lost.' Ron said. Not that he was lying. The castle was huge and it was hard _not_ to get lost.

'That's not a very good reason, Mr. Weasley. Maybe I should transform you into a pocket watch. That way maybe one of you might be on time.'

Terry and Josh walked with their new friends towards the one almost empty table, across from the Slytherin table. Unfortunately, one of the seats of that table was already occupied by Hermione Granger.

Reaching an unspoken agreement, the boys seated themselves, completely ignoring her presence.

The rest of the lesson was very boring. Mcgonagal taught them how to transform a needle into a glass. Terry and Josh, who have practiced that spell millions of times already, were one of the few who succeeded in their first attempt. The only other person was Hermione Granger.

After a few minutes of not having anything else to do, they transformed the needle wandlessly. When they grew bored of that, too, they had a much better time transforming the Slytherins' needles into some very creative things; Terry managed to turn Malfoy's needle into a tarantula, which lost Slytherin ten points. Josh turned another Slytherin girl's needle into a cockroach. The girl jumped out of her chair, screaming at the top of her lungs, until Mcgonagal transformed the cockroach into a needle again.

The Gryffindor table started laughing as Terry and Josh continued in their "artwork", unnoticed by anyone but the people sitting at their table, including Hermione, who looked on disapprovingly. Terry, however, thought he noticed something else in her eyes but could not quite place what it was.

'Hey, where did you learn doing that?' Dean asked incredulously, looking at his own needle, which stayed just as it was at the beginning of the lesson.

'It's just natural talent.' Terry said, winking at him.

'It's not a big deal.' Seamus said. 'Watch.' He said cleverly, pointing his wand at the needle and muttering something under his breath.

BOOM! There was suddenly a large explosion and Seamus's face was completely black from the sooth and his eyebrows and eyelashes were burnt. The rest of the Gryffindor boys started laughing hysterically. Seamus scowled.

'Five points from Gryffindor.' Mcgonagal said from the other part of the classroom.

'That's not fair, professor.' Josh said. 'You only remove points for bad work but you don't add points for _good_ work.'

Mcgonagal looked at Josh's perfect glass, then smiled. 'I guess students have to say something logical, at some point in their lives.' She said. 'Five points for Gryffindor. Oh, and ten more. Five for Hermione and five for Terry. Good job.' She praised.

The rest of the lesson was spent by chatting merrily with the rest of the Gryffindors and losing the Slytherins some more points by turning their needles into other things, unnoticed.

'Hey, Seamus, can you try to blow up Malfoy's needle?' Terry suddenly asked. 'It's boring when it's only me and Josh who're doing all the work.'

'I don't know.' Seamus answered uncertainly. 'I didn't do it on purpose, I just tried to turn my needle into a glass.'

'Well, try it again.' Neville interjected.

Seamus looked uncertain, but pointed his wand at Malfoy's needle from under the table nonetheless.

BOOOM! It was fun watching Malfoy almost jump out of his skin at the sudden noise. Mcgonagal removed five more points from Slytherin.

'Wheepy!' Josh cheered quietly so that Mcgonagal could not hear. 'Great job.'

Seamus looked pleased with himself and everyone else at the table laughed, apart from Hermione, who looked at Terry and Josh with narrowed eyes. Josh, however, did not notice anything;

'I think we're having a bad influence on them.' Josh whispered to Terry.

Terry nodded. 'And we're not finished yet, are we?' He asked evilly.

'You bet.'



'WAAAAAAARRGGH.'

Terry has been sleeping peacefully until a scream shuttered the silence. He jumped up, pulling his wand out from under the pillow just in time to see Josh do the same. Neville rolled over and fell off his bed. Seamus and Dean were also quickly getting up, both rubbing their eyes sleepily and looking around confusedly.

A quick look around told Terry that the scream has come from Ron, as he was standing in the middle of the room, blushing slightly.

'Err, good morning, everyone.' He smiled sheepishly, looking warily at the drawn wands of Josh and Terry. 'This is an effective way of waking everyone up, don't you think?'

Josh let out a stream of some colorful curses. 'What time is it?' He asked, looking at his watch without waiting for an answer. 'Are you crazy? Waking us up at six o'clock in the morning?'

Ron looked as though he was already regretting his actions. 'I just thought you would be excited about the flying lesson.'

Seamus, Dean and Neville immediately lost their sleepy faces to be replaced by excited ones.

- 'Right, how could I forget about it?'

- 'I can't wait to get into the quiditch team next year.'

- 'Hey, what are we waiting for? Let's go downstairs!'

Terry and Josh looked at each other. 'Err, are you guys telling me you've never flown a broom before?' Terry asked them, and was rewarded by four blank faces staring at him.

Josh looked incredulous. 'You must be kidding me. I only found out I was a wizard three years ago and I flew a broom more times than I ever traveled by car.'

The four blank faces turned to stare from Terry to Josh.

Seamus was the first to recover. 'Yeah, right, like we're gonna believe you.'

Josh and Terry looked at each other incredulously. 'Fine, you don't have to believe us, you can see for yourself when we get to the lesson.' Josh said, yawning. 'But now, I'm going back to bed.'

'Great idea, brother.' Terry said, getting into his own bed. 'Good night.'

Their four roommates looked at them as if they have lost their minds.

'Fine,' Ron said.

'You can stay here,' Seamus said.

'Yeah, get the rest you need,' Dean added.

'But we're going downstairs right now,' Neville finished, although Terry detected a small quiver in his voice which meant that he was a bit scared of his first flying lesson.

Terry yawned loudly. 'Have fun.' He said, snuggling into his pillow.

'See you in two hours.' Josh added.

As soon as the four boys were out of the room, Terry and Josh jumped up from their beds. 'Lucky Ron woke us up, I don't think I could have done that by myself.' Josh said merrily. Yesterday, both boys decided that it would have been a good idea to start training themselves during their stay at Hogwarts, so that they would not get out of practice. It's not like they have ever been in a karate lesson before- they didn't have much opportunities to visit the muggle world during their stay at Powell Place, but they got into dozens of fights and have learned some basic moves out of instinct. They also invented some moves of their own moves and practiced them.

Terry shrugged. 'Let's just get it over with. Are you ready?'

'Sure. How should we begin?'

'Basics first.' Terry answered.

They started warm ups by exchanging relatively simple punches and blocking them. Then they went on another level and started with kicks. Soon they both got deep into it and started using flying kicks, ducking and rolling on the floor. They continued in this way for about thirty more minutes. Then they both stopped, taking a break.

Terry dried his sweating face with a fresh towel, took a sip from the bottle of water he has just conjured and turned towards Josh, 'time's up,' he said after less than five minutes of break, deciding to take charge, 'OK, lets start with the more complicated stuff: magic with no wands. Try being creative.'

'No problem, creativity is my greatest specialty.' Josh said. He made a pen soar from his trunk towards him and transformed it into a knife wandlessly, grinning menacingly at Terry and advancing towards him threateningly.

'I know,' Terry sighed, 'that's your problem, you are _too _creative. No knives.' He ordered, and the knife in Josh's hand instantly transformed itself back into a pen.

They continued training until seven o'clock and then Terry took it in turns with Josh to go into the shower. As Terry dried his hair with a towel, he got the first glimpse of himself in his smaller body in three years and was surprised at how much he changed; his green eyes stayed the same, but his hair was longer, which somehow seemed cooler. He also noticed that he had more muscles on his chest than he did before. He guessed it was because of the exercise he started doing since he left the orphanage. Of course, he was always playing basketball back in the orphanage, but that was nothing compared to the fights he got into and the heavy boxes he was lifting every day when he was at Stan's place.

By seven thirty, he was out of the shower and heading towards the great hall with Josh. Their lesson started at eight so they had half an hour to eat their breakfast. Their roommates were nowhere to be seen so they just seated themselves at the Gryffindor table. While eating breakfast and talking, they decided that they needed a better place for training and agreed that they would think about it later.

At eight o'clock, they both headed towards the large, grass covered grounds, where their flying lessons were taking place. Madame Hooch, their teacher, was about fifty years old, but looked very fit for her age. Even fitter than a younger person, if that was possible. She had deep, blue eyes and her short white hair was held up in spikes similar to Dean's. Terry tried not to chuckle as he thought about it.

Terry and Josh located their friends and went to stand next to them on the pitch. There were about twenty brooms lying neatly in two lines on the ground. Neville looked positively terrified.

'Right,' Madame Hooch said after everyone arrived, 'everyone, stand to the left of your brooms, put your right hand over the broom and say "up", like this.' She stood to the left of her broom and demonstrated. The broom soared gracefully into her hand.

A few minutes later, the air was full of voices of people shouting "up" to their brooms. Terry's broom was one of the few which flew to his hand. The only other people who managed to get the brooms to their hands were Josh and, surprisingly, Malfoy.

Bored, Terry looked around to see the progress of other people. Neville was positively screaming at his broom, which just stayed stubbornly on the ground. Hermione's broom just moved slightly on the ground. Ron's broom did not move at all, that is, until he concentrated so hard that the broom suddenly slammed into his face. Terry laughed.

''s not funny, Terry.' Ron mumbled, annoyed.

'OK.' Madame Hooch finally said. 'Now, I want you all to mount your brooms. On the count of three, kick off hard from the ground. One. Two. Three.'

Neville Longbottom was so nervous that he kicked off from the ground at the count of two. Terry watched as Neville started rising upwards slowly.

'Mr. Longbottom! Come down here this instant!' Madame Hooch shouted.

Neville looked absolutely terrified. He had obviously lost control of the broom. Terry groaned. Was everyone here at Hogwarts _that _stupid? He couldn't wait to get back to New York. As this thought crossed his head, he was suddenly surprised at himself. Where the hell had that come from? He wanted to go to Hogwarts really badly ever since he heard about it, so what went wrong?

Neville's broom started to go wild and he started to get further and further away from the rest of the class. There were shouts and shrieks from the girls and everyone started to run after Neville's broom, including Madame Hooch. The broom started to fly faster. It soared towards the top of one of the shorter towers of the castles which was, nonetheless, very tall.

Suddenly, Neville lost his grip and started falling, falling from a height of a hundred feet. There was no chance he was going to survive that fall. he shrieked all the way down when, suddenly, the shriek caught in his throat as his fall stopped abruptly, about ten feet above the ground. His robe has been caught on a flag which was sticking out of the wall of the castle.

The robe suddenly tore and the fall continued again, only to be stopped again a few feet above the ground by another flag. His robe tore again and he fell the rest of the way and slammed hard onto the ground.

Madame Hooch came running, pushing students roughly out of the way. She bent down next to the whimpering Neville and tsk tsked. 'Oh, poor dear, you broke your arm.' She said, helping him up to his feet.

'I'm taking Longbottom to the hospital wing.' She informed the class. 'I expect everyone's feet to stay firmly on the ground if they do not want to find themselves out of Hogwarts before they could say the word "quiditch".' She added, looking at them threateningly, then, taking off with Neville in the direction of the castle.

'Did you see his face?' Terry turned around to see Malfoy talking to a bunch of Slytherins. 'He looked so pathetic.' Malfoy's face suddenly broke into a grin as he stooped down to grab something from the ground. He held it up for his fellow students to see. 'Hey, it's Neville's remembrall .' He exclaimed, then chuckled, 'he definitely needed it.' The rest of the Slytherins started laughing.

'Such a weird sense of humor.' Josh told Terry loudly. 'I wonder how anyone could be possessed with such a strong ability to be un-funny.'

'Nobody asked your opinion, _White,_' Malfoy snapped.

'For one thing, Malfoy, I was not talking to you. It would lower my standards too much,' Josh said coldly, 'for another thing, I don't have to be given permission to be able to give my opinion.'

Crabbe and Goyle, the two boys who Terry thought looked like Malfoy's bodyguards, cracked their knuckles. 'Watch it, White, you should learn who you are talking to before you start making any senseless statements.' Malfoy said threateningly.

'Hey, look,' Terry interrupted calmly, 'I hate to have to cut into your conversation like that but could you please give me my friend's remembrall?'

'No.' Malfoy answered.

'Very well, you have chosen the hard way.' Josh remarked, although the answer was not directed to him, but Terry knew Josh too well to expect him to just leave such a wonderful chance for a fight. He ran full speed towards Malfoy, colliding with his stomach in exactly the same way Terry did to Neville, only with a lot more force. Malfoy gasped in pain and surprise and stumbled back, falling hard on his ass, the remembrall flying out of his hands.

Terry walked forwards and caught it easily in one hand. 'Thanks.'

'Good manners always count, Renaldo.' Josh said, walking towards him and ignoring the crowd's stares.

Malfoy got to his feet with difficulty, clutching his stomach painfully and gritting his teeth. 'Do something!' He told Crabbe and Goyle icily.

'Oh.' Crabbe said stupidly, looking at Goyle. Then both of them charged towards Terry and Josh.

Terry has waited for his chance to have a good fight ever since he arrived at Hogwarts. However, this could hardly be counted as a good fight. Terry almost felt bored;

Goyle was running towards him with his large body, using his full speed, which was, needless to say, not very fast. Terry planted his feet firmly on the ground, waited for Goyle to get close enough, and hurled him over his shoulder easily. It was quite a simple move, really. It used up your opponent's strength for your own advantage, which meant that the faster you ran, the more likely you were to sustain a permanent brain damage. Not that it mattered in Goyle's case. Terry would have been surprised if there was anything inside Goyle's head at all. Goyle landed straight on his head and did not get up again. Terry felt very disappointed. Unconscious so quickly? He was hoping for something better than that, even if it was something bad anyway.

He glanced back over his shoulder at Josh, who was apparently in the same situation as he was: An unconscious Crabbe at his feet and a highly disappointed look on his face. They caught each other's eye, then both glanced back at Malfoy.

Malfoy looked at them with astonishment and surprise, rubbing his ass unconsciously on the spot where he landed. He was probably going to have some trouble sitting on a chair for the rest of the semester.

The rest of the students looked at them with awe, including Ron, Seamus and Dean. 'Hey, stop looking at us in this way.' Josh said, addressing the students and walking towards his roommates with Terry following close behind.

Murmurs suddenly started up from the crowd, but no one actually looked towards their direction, obviously scared, deciding to listen to what Josh had just said.

All of their roommates started bombarding them with questions. Well, all except for Dean, who was looking at them with narrowed eyes. After a while of confusion from their roommates, the group of five (Neville was missing) started laughing loudly at Malfoy's situation and even made bets on how long he would not be able to sit on a chair.

* * *

I thought this would be a good place to finish the chapter. Sorry if I mixed some characters up; I didn't read the original book so carefully. I also can't remember everyone's appearances, so I made some up.

Please review!


	5. Chapter 5

Ok, here's the fifth chapter for you, I don't feel like boring you with my talk too much.

**

* * *

****Chapter 5:**

Madame Hooch got back fifteen minutes later. Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately? Terry wasn't sure, Crabbe and Goyle have already woken up and were standing on their feet. Obviously, they were too embarrassed to tell her what happened and stayed quite.

'Everyone, I'm really sorry about what happened, but you are not going to have class today. You have a free time till your next lesson.' She declared.

Several people gave cries of disappointment. Terry and Josh didn't really care and Ron, Dean and Seamus looked unsure of whether to feel relieved at their opportunity to visit Neville in the hospital wing or disappointed at their missed flying lessons. Either way, they all headed towards the hospital wing as soon as the words left Madame Hooch's lips.

They reached the hospital wing in no time and Terry opened the door without knocking. He wasn't one to spend time on manners. The place looked like a normal hospital: white walls and rows of beds, only this place was a lot smaller. There was no one there except for a plump woman with greying hair who was leaning over Neville with her wand.

The woman looked up sharply as the group of first years headed inside. 'Out!' She barked, 'the playground is on the other side of the castle.'

They all looked at each other. Josh sighed, 'we're only here to see Neville.' he said.

'There's no need, I was just about to perform a simple spell to cure his arm and I was going to send him straight back to his dormitory.' the woman said.

'Excellent,' Terry said slyly, 'you can perform the spell now quickly and we'll come with him to the dormitory.'

The woman looked at Terry suspiciously, then sighed, turned back to Neville, swished her wand a few times, and the swelling on Neville's arm disappeared. 'Good boy.' She said to Neville, 'now off you go, all of you.'

They all stumbled out of the hospital's doors. 'thanks, guys.' Neville said.

'No problem.' Josh answered.

'Yeah,' Terry added, 'we've got the rest of the lesson free thanks to you. Oh, and I've got your remembrall, you must have dropped it while you were falling, but don't worry, Malfoy found it and was generous enough to give it to me so that I could pass it on to you.' He said, handing Neville the small clear ball.

They all laughed, then told a confused Neville what happened back in the quiditch pitch. Neville looked incredulous, 'why do I always miss the fun things?' he asked.

Suddenly, red smoke formed in Neville's remembrall, a sign that he forgot something. 'What now?' he asked, 'it never stops turning red, I think that there must be something wrong with this.'

Ron's face suddenly crumpled with horror. 'We're late for our first defense against the arts class.' he said, horrified. The red smoke disappeared from the remembrall immediately.

They all started running in the direction of the classroom, arriving breathless at the door, fifteen minutes late.

The first thing Terry noticed was a strong smell of garlic. A tall man who was wearing a turban was standing in front of the class and turned to look at them as they entered. 'w…wh… why are you l… late?' He asked, stuttering.

Terry raised his eyebrows. What was the man's problem? People around here never ceased to amaze him with their stupidity. What was the idea?

Josh, however, looked amused. 'w… we j… j-just g… got l-lost, p… pro… professor.' he said. Terry laughed, along with the rest of the class.

The teacher turned red. 'f-five p… p-points from G-Gryffindor.' He said.

Terry grinned. 'B…b-but, s-sir, i-it's n-not our f… f-fault.' he said. 'w…we d-didn't m… m-mean t-to g-get l… l… l… l…l… l-lost.'

Everyone laughed even harder. The teacher looked as if he was ready to burst. The two people laughing hardest of all were two Gryffindor girls- Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown.

The rest of the lesson went on with stuttering as the rest of the students caught on to Josh and Terry's game. The only people not playing along were Malfoy and the rest of the Slytherins and Hermione Granger, who was looking at them with narrowed eyes. Terry, however, did not think too much about it as he knew that she has also witnessed what had just happened in their flying lesson. (A/N: there is a reason for that look. It will be explained in chapter 7, I think, I already did eight chapters but my USB key was stolen so I have to write it all over again! There is also something about Dean, but I don't want to give everything away. Shut up! I'm talking too much! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! (hitting myself on the head like Dobby). OK, on with the story).

Professor Quirrel, the teacher, looked very relieved when the lesson ended.

Terry headed out of the class with the rest of the Gryffindor gang, laughing hysterically. 'That teacher was almost as good as professor Snape.' He said between fits of laughter.

They all headed up to lunch and were eating and talking about everything that happened. Suddenly Terry noticed Josh looking at him and he looked up, raising his eyebrows. Josh motioned for him that it was something which they needed to talk about privately and inclined his head towards the exit. Getting the point, Terry got up from his chair with Josh doing the same thing beside him.

'Hey, where are you two going?' Dean asked suspiciously.

That was a good question. Terry wished he knew what Josh wanted. Instead, he just said, 'we're just going for a little walk around the castle, don't worry about us, we are not going to bully _lots_ of people.'

Seamus, who was Dean's best friend, sighed, knowing perfectly well that this statement was not true. 'Well, good luck.' He said ironically.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Terry turned to Josh, 'what is it, brother?' he asked.

'Well, that's exactly it,' Josh replied.

Terry looked at him blankly, 'what?'

'Why did we look for the wizarding world in the first place?' Josh asked, then answered without waiting for Terry's reaction, 'we wanted to find out about our family, to know if we are _brothers_, but as soon as we found out about this world, we became so transfixed on it that we completely forgot why we've been looking for it.'

They rounded a corner, not noticing where they were going. Terry hit himself on the forehead, 'you are so right. I totally forgot about it. You know what I think? I think that there might be a possibility that we _are_ related. What if Mrs. Cole lied when she said that they did a DNA test on us? I mean, we do look alike and everyone around here is convinced that we are brothers.'

'I don't think she lied to us.' Josh said thoughtfully, shaking his head, 'but there might be a possibility that a DNA test is not completely reliable on wizards,'

'So, what do you reckon we should do?'

'Do some research about James Potter and how he died.'

'Stop talking nonsense. You know that Lupine guy was completely off his mind.' Terry said, but he was not completely sure he believed what he was saying. Looking for James Potter might be a pretty good headstart to their research. They rounded another corner and immediately bumped into a large figure.

Terry looked up to see the giant face of Hagrid, Hogwarts' keeper of keys, who looked like he was just going for a little stroll around the castle. 'Why aren't you in lessons?' he asked as soon as he saw them, without even apologizing.

'We don't have lessons for the rest of the day.' Terry replied and turned to leave, when he sensed that Josh did not follow him.

'Erm, Hagrid?' Terry heard Josh's voice from behind him. He turned around in surprise. 'Err, how long have you been at Hogwarts?'

Hagrid looked surprised at the question which was directed at him from someone he has never spoke to before. However, he looked proud as he said, 'Oh, I bin' here a very lon' time. More'en fifty years, in fact.'

Terry knew immediately what Josh was trying to achieve and was therefore not as surprised as Hagrid at his next question. 'Did you know anyone named James Potter who used to attend this school?'

Hagrid looked at him suspiciously, 'are you tryin' to make fun o' me? Ever'one knew who James Potter was. A great man, he was. O'course he attended this school.'

Josh looked as surprised as Terry felt. 'Could you tell us more about him?' Terry asked, beating Josh for the next question.

'Well,' Hagrid said, 'I'm very surprised you ne'er heard o' him before. I don't like talkin' 'bout him, he died a tragic death, by you-know-who, with his wife an' his son. The son was the one who stripped him off his powers. Ever'one thinks little Harry Potter's dead, but I don't believe it.'

'You-know-who?' This time it was Josh who beat Terry to the next question.

'Are you two muggle borns? I ne'er seen anyone who knows so little 'bout the wizardin' world.' Hagrid said.

'Yes.' Terry said. 'We are muggle borns. Could you tell us what happened?'

'It was a lon' story.' Hagrid answered. 'and I was going fer a walk. Maybe some other time. Yer could come to my hut, down near the lake if yer want ter.' He said, then he strolled off without waiting for an answer.

Terry and Josh looked at each other, then walked in the direction of the library without saying a word. Since Hagrid talked about the Potters in such an obvious way, they figured that the family must be famous and could be mentioned in some books. When they arrived at the library, they could see that it was almost completely empty. The only people in the library were Madame Pince, the librarian, two sixth year students and Hermione Granger.

Hermione was so busy looking at the book she was reading that she did not notice when they came in until Terry asked the librarian for a book about Harry Potter. She looked at them with narrowed eyes, then hid her nose back inside the book.

Madame Pince looked surprised. 'Why do you need a book about him?' she asked.

Terry yawned. 'A person could get bored during the time he doesn't have lessons. We're just looking for something interesting to read.'

There was a happy look on the librarian's face. 'I haven't met anyone who came here to read just for the sake of reading in a long time. Wait here, I'll see what I can find.' she said, disappearing behind a small door situated behind the counter. She came back a few minutes later with a large pile of books in her hands. 'I hope this will be enough?' She asked, looking hopeful.

'Yeah, it's perfect, thank you.' Josh said quickly, nearly snatching the huge pile of books from her hand and walking towards the furthest table, to make sure they were not overheard.

Terry gave her what he hoped was an apologetic look and hurried away towards Josh. 'Careful, Vlady, someone can get suspicious.' he said warningly as he got to the table.

Josh did not even look at him. He just opened the first book, which was on the top of the pile and started reading.

Terry sighed and sat down next to him, reaching for the next book.

After about an hour, they knew almost everything about Harry Potter; he was cursed, along with his parents by a dark wizard, whose name was not mentioned in any of the books. He was only called "the dark lord", "he-who-must not be-named" or "you-know-who";

Both of the boy's parents were killed, but it was not clear what happened to the boy himself or to the dark lord. Some people thought that they were both dead. The one thing that was certain was that the boy was the one to bring the dark lord's downfall;

There was also some less important stuff about the boy's parents before they were killed, but it was interesting nonetheless. They knew the dark lord was after them and fled. They only told one man about their whereabouts, Sirius Black, who was one of James Potter's best friends. He later betrayed them and told the dark lord where they were hiding, not before he killed ten muggles and a wizard in broad daylight, using a dark curse. The man was now in Azkaban, a wizards' prison, guarded by dementors.

From their research, they also found that the Potters were very close to Dumbledore, and trusted him as much as they did Sirius Black.

A few hours later, Terry and Josh became very satisfied about what they found and went to the great hall to eat dinner.

'I think we should talk to Dumbledore.' Josh said on their way, 'he is the only person we know at Hogwarts apart from Hagrid who knew the Potters.'

'I agree, brother. Once again you prove your outstanding cleverness.' Terry said meekly, although he really did agree with him.

'Oh, stop being like that, Renaldo,' Josh said, 'you should know that I'm really serious about this.'

'I know.' Terry said apologetically.

They arrived at the great hall early and started eating whatever came to their plate first.

'I want to find an empty classroom to train in after we finish eating.' Terry suddenly said.

'Sure.' Josh replied.

'Train in what?' they heard Seamus's voice behind them and they both whirled around to see the whole gang behind them.

'Err…' Terry said.

'We just…' Josh said.

Ron raised his eyebrows.

'OK, so you caught us.' Terry suddenly said. Josh looked at him, alarmed. 'That's how we know everything in the lessons, we are always practicing the spells before the classes begin.' Terry looked up hopefully. It didn't work. Terry could tell from their faces that they didn't believe him.

Dean's face suddenly broke into a grin, 'I got it!' He said triumphantly, looking back at the rest of their roommates, 'they _train_ themselves. That's how they can fight. They are always practicing their moves.'

Terry felt both alarmed and impressed. Dean was definitely bright, unlike most of his fellow Gryffindors. He looked at Josh, and saw that he was looking at him as well. He shrugged. Now that he thought about it, it wasn't too bad to let their roommates know that they were training. As long as they didn't know why. Terry didn't want them to go telling Dumbledore that they were working in a potions shop in New York while living an independent life at only the age of eleven. They would be sent straight back to that orphanage. He now knew that Charlie has kept their secret as none of the Weasley brothers knew about them.

'OK, so we do train. So what? What's wrong with learning to defend ourselves?' Josh asked from beside him.

Neville, Ron, Dean and Seamus looked at them incredulously. 'Are you crazy?' Neville said, 'there's nothing wrong with that. Why didn't you tell us earlier?'

'Yeah,' Seamus agreed, 'and we can join you.'

'Whoa, slow down, this is only for me and Josh, no guests.' Terry said. He was not going to teach a bunch of beginners how to fight. Josh, apparently felt the same way:

'I'll have to agree with you there, Renaldo.' he said, then he turned to face the others, 'sorry, guys, but your request has been denied, we're too busy for that.'

'Stop being so selfish,' Ron said, 'you saw what happened today at the quiditch pitch, and you know very well that we wouldn't have been able to defend ourselves in this way,' for some reason, Dean snorted as Ron said this, but tried to disguise it as a cough, 'and, anyway, we are all going to live together for the next six years like a family, well, OK, apart from the holidays, and we are supposed to look for each other. How can we do that if we can't look for ourselves?'

'Nice speech.' Terry commented.

'And I must say, you do have a point.' Josh added. Four faces looked at them hopefully.

'We're going to think about _thinking _about it.' Terry finished. 'But for today, no one is going to join us.'

'Oh, come_ on_,' Dean said, then seeing the boys' determined looks he seemed to reach a decision in his mind, 'OK, if you don't want us to join you today, then at least let us watch.'

'I've never met anyone so stubborn,' Terry said, 'what's the point of you coming, anyway?'

'We are just going to watch, to see what you are doing,' Dean explained, 'we can join you some other time.'

'There is no way you are going to join us,' Terry said indignantly, shaking his head, 'but you can just watch today, if you insist.'

Josh sighed, 'like we have any other choice.'



The gang found an empty classroom near the dungeons and entered it. Four faces looked at Josh and Terry expectantly. Josh and Terry looked at each other uncertainly.

Seeing the look on their faces, Dean said, 'don't worry, just go on as if we're not here.'

'Impossible.' Terry said.

'Can't throw knives.' Josh added.

'what knives?' Neville asked, alarmed.

'These ones.' Terry transformed a pile of feathers at the corner of the room into knives wandlessly. Everyone looked impressed, including Dean.

'I thought it was impossible doing magic without wands.' Dean said, looking skeptical.

'You thought wrong. You obviously don't read enough history books. They didn't have wands in the past. A wand is just a tool to strengthen your magic.' Josh said, 'but we will not be using knives today, for your benefit.' He transformed the pile of knives back into feathers.

Terry was going to argue that they didn't use knives in their last training anyway, but thought against it. After all, some of the fights they got into did involve knife throwing.

'OK, let's start.' Terry said impatiently, trying to ignore his four roommates. 'Contact or magic?'

'You know the answer already,' Josh answered, 'I always prefer contact.'

They started warm ups, a bit uneasily as they were being watched. Only a few punches and blocking. Then they started the more complex stuff.

Terry aimed a kick at Josh's stomach. Josh ducked and quickly made a perfect round-house kick, which Terry used to his own advantage by catching his leg and twisting it. Josh used his other leg to kick him hard on the chest.

Terry went sprawling backwards, landing hard on his back, but immediately swishing Josh off balance with his legs. Terry quickly went on top of him and pinned him down in an expert move. Josh was now helpless. No matter how hard he struggled, he could not free himself off Terry's grip.

'And that, brother, is what you call real expertness.' Terry said in his ear. He suddenly heard someone whistle and looked up in surprise. He completely forgot that they were being watched.

Josh took this moment to his advantage and twisted his arm out of Terrys' grip, using it to land a hard punch on his face. Terry stumbled off Josh and could feel blood dripping down his face. He ignored it and got up to his feet quickly, only to be met by a flying kick from Josh.

That was a completely idiotic move. Since Terry was not completely on his feet yet, he could easily catch Josh's foot and pull him off balance, making him fall hard on the floor. This was exactly what he tried to do, only it didn't work. Josh has foreseen what Terry was going to do and changed direction in mid-air, landing his feet on the floor, instead of on Terry's stomach.

This gave Terry an opportunity to strike Josh while he was vulnerable. He quickly moved forward and aimed another round house kick, this time at Josh's face. Josh ducked and quickly aimed a stream of punches at Terry, forcing him into the defensive mode. Terry was forced to block Josh's punches with his arms, meaning that he did not have time to attack. Josh continued advancing forward, forcing Terry into a corner.

This was not a good position. Terry had to get out of it somehow. He did a series of backwards flips, getting further away from Josh faster than Josh was advancing, which gave him a chance to switch back into the attack mode. This time it was Terry who was advancing on Josh and Josh who was forced to back away. Punch. Kick. Kick. Punch. This one caught Josh straight in the eye. Another punch, this one produced a crack which probably broke his nose. kick. kick. Terry's moves were only made out of instinct, he did not think about a move until it has already been carried out, unless he was in really sticky situations. Josh suddenly caught Terry's leg as he was doing a perfect round-house kick and flipped him backwards.

Terry tried to do another backward flip and land on his feet, but Josh quickly aimed another kick at him while he was in midair, which sent Terry sprawling onto the floor, breathless as all the air has been knocked out of his lungs. This time it was Josh who was pinning Terry down.

'Let him go, he's bleeding!' Neville exclaimed from a corner. Josh looked up, distracted.

Terry grinned triumphantly and flipped Josh off his back, this time getting on top of him quickly before he could make any other move.

'Lesson number one,' he said, addressing his audience, 'is never turn your back on your opponent. Class dismissed.' He declared, releasing Josh.

Josh rubbed his hands where Terry had gripped him. 'Not so tight next time, try to be more sensitive.'

'Are you kidding me? Look at the damage you did to _my_ hands.' Terry shot back, showing Josh his red hands from blocking all the punches.

Suddenly Josh noticed his roommates staring at them with open mouths. Dean, however, was leaning against the wall casually, looking blankly calm. Terry had no idea what he was thinking, which was highly unusual as Terry was as good at reading other people's thoughts as playing basketball. 'Still want us to train you?' Josh asked slyly, grinning from ear to ear.

'But… you are both hurt- look at the damage you did to each other.' Neville said in a small voice.

'Oh, that's nothing.' Josh said dismissively. He had one black eye, and his nose was bleeding furiously, 'You don't have any idea how many times I've broken my ribs. Actually, I don't, either, I stopped counting.' He pulled his wand out and mended his broken nose.

Terry was also busy healing himself, though he only had a nose bleed without his nose being broken and the only other injury he had was the pain in his chest from Josh's kick. The pain quickly disappeared with a flick of the wand.

By the time he looked up, Josh's face was already clean and he looked as good as new.

'I think we should practice healing without wands next.' Josh commented.

'Where did you learn healing?' Dean suddenly asked, 'it's highly complicated magic.'

'We just read some books.' Terry answered truthfully. Now that he thought about it, it was weird that they could heal so easily. It was supposed to take years to learn, but he just shrugged the thought off.

'That was totally cool!' Ron exclaimed. 'I definitely want to try it next time.'

The three faces of the rest of their roommates looked at him as if he was crazy.

'What?' Ron asked, blushing, 'you should see Charlie's burns, they are much worse than that.'

'You know, I'm actually starting to think it wouldn't be a bad idea to train you, after all. It _would_ do the world some good if Malfoy was bullied a bit more often.' Terry said. 'What do you think, Vlady?' he asked Josh.

Josh looked at his roommates thoughtfully, 'well, they don't look _that_ traumatized,' he observed, 'but then again, they were not the victims. If we train them we need to try to inflict as little damage on them as possible.'

'Right.' Terry answered, then looked at them evilly, 'of course, that does not mean there's not gonna be any pain. Are you still sure you want to go on?'

They all gulped, except for Dean, who still had the same casual look on his face. Neville looked especially scared, but they all agreed instantly, all determined to show that they were not scared.

'Excellent.' Josh said, grinning at Terry evilly. 'Well, I think we should go to bed, what time is it?'

It was ten o'clock, an hour after they were supposed to go to bed. Uh well, all they had to do was sneak out unnoticed and get to their dormitory.

Terry walked up to the door and peeked out. 'The coast is clear.' He said, 'we can go out.'

They all tiptoed their way through the empty, dark corridors, trying not to make a sound. They were not very far from the Gryffindor portrait when they heard Filche's cat coming towards them from the direction they were going in. Filch was Hogwarts's caretaker and he liked nothing better than punishing students. He went everywhere with his cat, which meant that if his cat was there, so was he.

The small gang had no choice but to go back the same way they came from. A suit of armor walked past them, waving to them cheerfully, which gave Terry an idea. Many of the suits of armors in this castle could move, but many of them also could not…

A few minutes later, six suits of armor were walking towards the Gryffindor common room. When they passed the caretaker, Filch, they all waved cheerfully.

Filch swore, looking down at Mrs. Norris, his cat, 'A bad day today, heh? But don't worry, there must be some students lurking around in the corridors, come on, dear.'

As soon as they entered the Gryffindor common room, they all burst out laughing, which attracted several looks from the Gryffindors who still stayed awake, including Hermione.

'Did you see the way he was talking to his cat?' Seamus said hysterically.

'Yeah, we should do this more often.' Ron said through fits of laughter.

Ron, Seamus, Dean and Neville all looked at Terry and Josh for more ideas. It was as if they were the leaders of the gang, which Terry supposed, they were.

'OK,' Terry said, 'I think we should go to bed now. We have charms tomorrow in the morning. We'll have time to start with it tomorrow.' He said, referring to their training but not wanting to say it out loud in case they were overheard.

They all started heading to the boys dormitories when Josh caught Terry's hand, pulling him aside. 'What about our research?' He asked.

- 'What about it?'

- 'When are we going to ask Dumbledore?'

- 'We'll find time for it, don't worry and if we don't get a chance to see him, we'll just have to do something very bad to get ourselves thrown into the headmaster's office.' Terry said.

That seemed to settle it out as Josh looked satisfied. Even more satisfied than he should have been. Seriously, Josh seemed to have a thing for trouble… Almost as much as Terry did.



The next day saw the six eleven year old boys waking up early, at six o'clock, getting ready for breakfast. Terry and Josh took a shower as they were too tired to do it yesterday and then headed towards the great hall with the rest of the gang.

They finished eating by seven o'clock and had a whole hour before the lesson begun. Terry and Josh started teaching their friends how to perform the charm to lift objects. By the time the lesson was supposed to have started, they still haven't grasped it, although Dean did succeed in raising his spoon only less than an inch into the air, which fell back onto the table in less than five seconds.

They arrived at the class just in time. Everyone was already seated and a small teacher was standing behind his desk. He had a tiny white beard and was so small he had to stand on a pile of books for his nose to reach the edge of the desk.

'Hello, everyone.' He said. He had a squeaky voice, which suited his small size. 'I am professor Flitwick and I am going to teach you how to make objects _fly_. Now, have you all got your feathers?' they did. 'good, now I want you all to get into pairs. Erm, Ronald Weasley, you can pair up with Ms Granger, Joshua White, you are with Mr. Finnegan. Terrence Locke, you can pair up with Lavender Brown…' Flitwick continued to call the names of the pairs and the people who already had pairs started with their efforts to manage the charm.

Terry went to sit next to Lavender Brown, as the professor instructed, noticing Ron groaning out of the corner of his eye as he went to sit next to Hermione. Lavender looked too happy about this arrangement for Terry's liking. He immediately pointed his wand at the feather and made it soar upwards moodily.

Lavender was looking at the feather with interest. 'can I try?' She asked.

'Sure.' Terry made the feather land down on the table.

Lavender looked at the feather, pointed her want at it and muttered the words. Nothing happened.

Terry helpfully showed her how the spell should be done and told her to try again. To his surprise, Lavender was a fast learner and she succeeded the first time. The only problem was that her wand was not pointed at the feather, but at Professor Flitwick, who went soaring across the room.

Alarmed, Terry pushed Lavender's wand aside and made Flitwick land gently behind his desk with his own wand. Flitwick looked very impressed and gave Gryffindor twenty points: Ten to Terry and ten to Lavender.

Terry let Lavender continue with the work while he looked around.

Ron was trying hard to make the feather fly without success. '_Lingardium_ _Leviosa_' he said the words of the spell. When nothing happened, he started waving his wand furiously at the feather.

Hermione, who was his partner, quickly pushed his wand out of the way. 'Stop, stop, stop! You are going to take someone's eye out.' She said in her annoying tone. 'Anyway, you are saying it wrong, it's _Levi-osa, _not _levio-sa_,' she said, making the _iosa_ longer.

'You do it then if you are so clever.' Ron said heatedly.

Pulling her sleeves up, Hermione pointed her wand at the feather. '_Lingardium Leviosa_' She said confidently. Her feather soared upwards gracefully. Ron scowled.

BOOM. There was a sudden noise of explosion and Terry looked around, alarmed, at the direction of the sound.

Seamus still had his wand out, his feather was completely burnt and his face was black with ash, as was his partner's, Josh, who looked like he was going to kill someone.

Instead Josh said, as calmly as he could, 'I think we're gonna need another feather, professor.'



The rest of the day's lessons went on as boringly as lessons could get. When their last lesson was finally over, at five o'clock, Terry motioned for Josh that this was the time they were looking for to talk with Dumbledore.

When they got out of the classroom with the rest of their friends, Terry heard Ron say in a continued conversation with Neville, 'I'm telling you, she's a nightmare: "it's _Leviosa_ not _Leviosa_"' He mimicked her, 'no wonder she hasn't got any friends.'

Hermione suddenly pushed past him, hiding her face behind the pile of books she was always holding and making sobbing noises.

'I think she heard you.' Seamus said uneasily.

'Who cares.' Ron said, though Terry was sure he only said it because he and Josh were there, as he looked a bit uncomfortable.

'Erm, guys?' Terry said, attracting their attention, 'Me and Josh- we need to go somewhere. We'll meet you back at the great hall for dinner. We'll find a room for training later.'

'What is it now?' Neville asked, 'come on, you can tell us, it can't be as bad as training, can it?'

Terry didn't answer, he just started walking, waving at them dismissively, with Josh following close behind.

They got to Dumbledore's office by asking the talking portraits for directions. One particularly helpful knight led them the whole way by moving from picture to picture.

As they got there, however, they were faced with a problem they haven't anticipated: the entry to Dumbledore's office, like the rest of the entries to private places around the castle, had a portrait to which you were supposed to give a password in order to enter, only Dumbledore's office had a stone gargoyle instead of a portrait.

'Err…' Josh said to the gargoyle, 'can you let us in?'

'What's the magic word?' the gargoyle asked.

'Please?' Terry asked hopefully.

'Wrong,' the gargoyle said. 'Try something else.'

'Can you give us a clue?' Josh pleaded.

'No.' The Gargoyle said, then immediately leapt back to open the doorway.

'Hey, we didn't say the password.' Terry said, surprised.

'You didn't, but that does not mean that the door cannot be opened from the inside.' Dumbledore said from the open doorway, chuckling. 'Why don't you come in? I presume you wanted to talk to me?' He asked, leading the way up some stone steps without waiting for an answer and stopping at the top at a closed door, which he opened simply by turning a handle.

Terry and Josh followed him inside. Terry looked around. The office was large and comfortable. It's walls were full of moving portraits of former headmasters and headmistresses of the school. In the middle was a large table with four chairs around it. The sorting hat stood on a shelf nearby, near a cage of a beautiful orange bird.

'Take a sit.' Dumbledore told them. 'And now you can tell me why you are here.'

Terry felt a bit uncomfortable. He hadn't meant the visit to the headmaster's office to be so formal. He only wanted to ask a few questions.

Sensing Terry's hesitation, Josh decided to take the matters into his own hands. 'Well, actually, we only wanted to ask you some questions about Lilly and James Potter.' he said.

Dumbledore looked surprised. 'And why would you do that?' He asked suspiciously.

Terry considered him for a moment. Everyone was talking about him as a great man who could be trusted. Could Terry trust him? Could he tell him the reason why they were asking that question? Terry weighed out the advantages and disadvantages of telling him. If he told him, they might be able to know who their family were, but be put at risk of being returned to the orphanage. Then again, he could always run away, use a potion to change his appearance and work anywhere he liked, that is, if Dumbledore discovered that he worked at Stan's, which was highly unlikely. Dumbledore was sure that Terry and Josh were still living in the orphanage.

All these thoughts passed Terry's mind in less than a second and he reached his conclusion. 'We think that there might be a possibility that they were our parents and that one of us is Harry Potter.' Terry said, examining Dumbledore's face closely.

'SHUT UP' Josh suddenly shouted from the chair beside Terry. Terry looked around, surprised at Josh's uncontrolled outburst, 'what are you doing? How can you tell that to a complete stranger when you wouldn't tell that to your friends?' He looked ready to strangle Terry.

Dumbledore's mouth dropped open and he looked at them in amazement. 'First of all,' he said, and Terry was surprised to find that his voice was totally calm, 'there is no need to hide anything from me. I assure you, I can be completely trusted, whatever reason you have for not wanting to tell me this,' he looked directly at Josh, 'secondly, I am very happy you came here to contact me. You did a very wise thing and I think I can help you.'

Josh looked at him with mistrust. Terry also felt a bit of regret at having told him their secret, after Josh's outburst.

'Now, you both have lots of similarities in your looks to Lilly and James Potter. I am now going to tell you something which used to be top secret and which very few people know even now.' Dumbledore said, looking at them calmly.

'What is it?' Terry spoke before Josh could have another outbreak. He was surprised at Dumbledore's "straight to business tone" and he wondered what it was that he wanted to tell them.

'The Potters had twin sons.'

'What?' Terry and Josh asked in unison.

'They knew Voldemort was after them even during Lilly's pregnancy. They knew that he wanted the son which was going to be born, but Lilly discovered that she had two sons in her stomach, and was hiding that fact in case Voldemort decided to kill them both. The only people who knew that Lilly had twins were Sirius Black and myself.' This time Terry's mouth dropped open in amazement. This man was… he did not know if he could find a word to describe him so he just settled on "weird". They were hardly in his office for five minutes and he already started telling them Lilly and James' history.

Terry and Josh stared at him in amazement and disbelief, 'so you are saying…' Josh started-

'I am not saying anything,' Dumbledore cut in, 'until I have proof. And that proof could be obtained easily right now. There is a simple charm, which brings back all the forgotten memories, which are usually memories from when you were babies. If you really are the Potter twins, you are going to witness your parents' deaths and if you are not, you are going to see other things which might have happened to you anyway when you were babies, or anything else you did not remember. However, I am going to see everything you see, and for that I need your permission.'

Terry and Josh looked at each other. If Josh wasn't there, Terry was sure he would have agreed instantly, but he knew that Josh did not trust Dumbledore entirely. Terry looked into his eyes pleadingly. Josh slowly shook his head.

Terry felt his temper rise, 'fine, if you don't want to, you don't have to, no one is forcing you, but I'm doing it.'

Josh looked like he was going to argue, but then he stopped himself. 'OK, you can do it, and I'll watch out to see if he does anything fishy.'

'Great idea, brother.' Terry said ironically, then motioned to Dumbledore that he was ready.

Dumbledore looked at Josh, 'it's OK to get suspicious, but I must warn you that as soon as I start the spell, both I and Mr. Locke, or Potter, if it is really him, will fall unconscious for a few minutes.'

Josh nodded wearily.

Dumbledore took out his wand, pointed it at Terry, and mumbled a few words. Terry instantly saw dark dots dancing in front of his eyes. He felt the ground fall beneath him. He suddenly felt dizzy and was starting to fall, falling an endless fall… he was falling through a black hole, which he knew was going to go on forever and felt his world spin. He was falling, falling, falling… Then his fall finally ended as he landed on a surprisingly soft surface;

The soft surface turned out to be a very comfortable, large bed, on which Harry was lying (A/N: yes, you heard right, I said Harry. Those are his memories.), his brother lying next to him; the scene suddenly changed and mother was suddenly leaning over them, singing a lullaby. Another change of scene; he was crawling on a little blanket on the floor, father was opening his arms to let him walk his first steps into them while his brother was only snoring lazily on the blanket; He was held tightly, protectively, against his mother's chest. His mother was screaming. There was a flash of green light and his father has fallen onto the floor. His mother was holding him tighter, shrieking, 'not Harry, not Harry.' Another flash of green light from a man's wand. A blinding pain in his forehead. The pain… it hurt too much. His forehead was going to split in two. He could not rake that pressure anymore…

Terry didn't notice the connection was broken as he was lying on the floor, clutching his scar tightly. It still hurt, why wouldn't it stop? He wanted to die. Death was better than this pain. Then, it suddenly stopped as suddenly as it begun and Terry- Harry? Got to his feet shakily. He suddenly felt a pair of strong hands supporting him.

'What did that son-of-a-bitch do to you?' Terry heard Josh shrieking angrily. There was a hint of protectiveness in his voice. 'I'm gonna kill him after I finish torturing him.'

Terry held his head groggily between his two hands, shaking it, 'Where is he?' he asked urgently, 'where is he?'

'Don't worry, I stunned him.' Josh answered soothingly.

'What?' Terry immediately got to his feet and saw the frozen form of Dumbledore lying on the ground. He got his wand out and quickly un-froze him, helping him to is feet.

Dumbledore looked at Terry with sad eyes. 'I'm sorry- so sorry- you shouldn't have seen this… it was too horrible… Lilly and James…' There were tears in his eyes, but Terry was too unfocused to notice the mad twinkle which passed across Dumbledore's eyes for just a second. (A/N: I have a reason for that too! You will just have to continue reading!)

Josh looked confused. 'Terry? What's going on?' he asked. It was the first time in a very long while that Josh called Terry by his real name. Well, actually, it was not his real name anymore.

'I'm Harry Potter. I saw Lilly and James' murderer. I saw them being killed.'

Josh's eyes widened. Then he turned to Dumbledore without a second's thought, 'Can you do the spell on me as well?' He asked urgently.

Dumbledore looked uncertain. 'I don't know, the former spell has left me very weak. It was very… I shouldn't have let him see it.' His unfocused eyes suddenly became focused, 'what am I talking about? We have to find out if you are Harry's brother.'

Terry looked on as Dumbledore pulled his wand out determinedly and pointed it at Josh. Dumbledore looked at Terry uncertainly. 'Don't worry, we are going to fall unconscious and we'll be back at the present time in a few minutes.'

Terry nodded weakly.

Dumbledore said the spell and immediately sunk to the floor, along with Josh. Terry looked at them with interest, considering his situation. They both looked as if they have been knocked out by a blow to the jaw.

Josh woke up sooner than Dumbledore did and looked around unfocusedly till he located Terry. Then he smiled. 'Hi, brother.' He said.

Terry stared at him, then realization dawned on him and he stared at Josh disbelievingly, then he started laughing. Josh joined him uncertainly. They both started laughing, not because they found something funny, but out of happiness. They knew that they were really brothers, that they had some family, they were not some cast off orphans anymore. They were brothers.

Dumbledore started to wake up. He looked weaker than Terry and Josh put together, but he smiled as they saw them both sitting on the floor, laughing.

After a few minutes, Dumbledore invited them to seat on the chairs across from him and looked at them both with twinkling eyes. 'I have visited both of your minds, and I can evaluate the situation for you, if you want to.' He said.

Terry and Josh both nodded, looking at him expectantly.

'You, Terrence Locke, were called Harry Potter,' Dumbledore said, addressing Terry;

'and you, Joshua White, were called Joshua Potter.' This time he was addressing Josh; 'I think it was a bit of a coincidence that the orphanage made up a first name which was actually your real name.'

Josh nodded, not saying anything in case he missed something important. He was now looking at Dumbledore in a new light.

'You were both the sons of Lilly and James Potter. Voldemort was after Harry, for some unknown reason. Your parents decided to hide the fact that they had two children so that Voldemort would not try to kill the two of you. When he found out about your parents' hiding place, your parents hid Josh, but before they could hide Harry, Voldemort arrived and killed James and Lilly. When he tried to kill Harry, something happened which made the curse rebound, which is how Harry got the scar on his forehead.'

Terry felt his forehead. He always thought he got the scar from a special circumstance, but didn't know it was such a big deal. It was made by a killing curse which was meant to kill him.

Dumbledore went on, 'we do not know how you two arrived at the same orphanage. When people came to search your house, only your parents' bodies were found. The babies were nowhere to be seen.'

Terry, Josh and Dumbledore all fell silent. It was a great shock for them all, even for Dumbledore, who experienced everything they experienced by entering their minds.

'Err… professor?' Terry asked uncertainly.

'Yes, Harry?'

Terry flinched. 'I was just going to ask you not to call me Harry. I respect who I am, but I do not want to be called something I am not used to.'

'That is quite understandable Ha-Terry.' Dumbledore said. 'Now, this has come as a real shock to me. You did a very wise thing by coming here to share your suspicions with me. However, I am not in a condition to think clearly now. I will make an appointment with the two of you for Monday, at nine o'clock, when we will discuss everything, including your future accommodations. You are now probably very tired and hungry, so off you go to eat. Do not worry. You can tell anyone you like about yourselves, you have a right to, but I will not tell anyone,' he added as he saw their panicked expressions, 'I will be down in the great hall in a few minutes. Good bye.'

* * *

I know, I know. This is a bad place to finish the chapter.

As I said, there is a reason For Terry and Josh's abilities, and there is also something about Dumbledore.

Anyway, I have the next chapter ready for you. DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!!




	6. Chapter 6

Last chapter for today! Hope you enjoy!

**

* * *

****Chapter 6:**

Terry and Josh started walking towards the great hall quietly. It was the first time they have been to Dumbledore's office and they had some trouble finding their way back. However, none of them paid much attention to where they were going as they were both deep in their thoughts;

'I was kinda hoping it was me who was Harry Potter,' Josh suddenly said, grinning. Terry was so surprised at this unpredictable statement that his response was automatic;

'What?'

'Hey, I was only kidding, relax,' Josh said, 'only trying to make conversation.'

'Oh,' Terry replied, 'so… what did you see when Dumbledore did that spell?'

'Nothing interesting,' Josh answered, 'I only saw some bits from when I was a baby, but there was also one bit where I heard some screaming and a male voice laughing. Obviously, it wasn't James Potter. I couldn't see anything - it was too dark.'

Terry nodded, 'I guess they hid you somewhere. They didn't have to work that hard because Voldemort didn't know you existed, so he didn't look for you. They probably put you in some cupboard, or something. It actually figures: they wouldn't want to hide me as well because then he would have found both of us.'

'I still can't believe you are Harry Potter.'

'Hey, are you two lost? The great hall is on the other side of the castle.' Terry and Josh both whirled around as they heard the now familiar bossy voice of Hermione Granger.

They both looked at her warily, wondering if she heard anything, 'that's none of your business, Granger,' Josh said.

'Hey, relax, I was only trying to help,' Hermione answered, brushing a strand of bushy brown hair away from her face, looking annoyed.

'Oh, yeah? Well, we don't need your help, so piss off,' Terry said. He half expected her to burst out in tears, like she always did, but what she said next made his heart stop for a few seconds;

'Maybe so,' she said, 'but that does not mean that I cannot spill your secret, _Potter_.'

Terry's throat went dry as he looked at Josh helplessly. He had no idea what he was supposed to do and, unfortunately, Josh looked as clueless as him.

'Don't worry,' Hermione said quickly, 'I didn't mean it, I am not going to tell anyone, but this is only because I have a really good reason, which I am not going to tell you yet. The only thing I can tell you for now is that you cannot trust Dumbledore.'

Terry looked at her with narrowed eyes, 'you are different,' was all he said. And he meant it. Hermione was always quite, with no friends and no personality. She always seemed to be hurt by anything anyone said and was spending most of her time crying. Now, however, she looked harder and more in control of herself. It was a bit weird, the way she just came up behind them and told them that she knew about their secret. Was she following them?

Hermione let out a short laugh, understanding perfectly well what Terry had meant, 'it's all just an act,' she said, 'and it's very difficult to keep up. Look, don't ask me any questions and don't tell anyone what I just told you, and I won't tell anybody about you.'

'I'm not very interested to hear about you or your life,' Josh said dryly, 'but I'm just very interested about one comment you made; why shouldn't we trust Dumbledore?'

'Just something to keep in mind,' Hermione said as dryly as Josh did, 'anyway, I can show you the way to the great hall if you want me to, but I'm not gonna stay there.'

'Like I care,' Josh muttered, but they both followed her anyway, as they did not feel like spending the rest of the night looking for it.

Terry would not admit it, but he was a bit curios as to why Hermione bothered to keep that act on. She seemed pretty cool when she was not always sobbing.

It turned out that Terry and Josh were walking in the completely wrong direction as it took them about an hour to reach the great hall, which was, as Hermione had said, on the other side of the castle. Terry faintly wondered what Hermione was doing there. When they reached the great hall, Hermione turned around quickly waving at them, and strolled in a different direction before anyone could see her. _Weirdo_.

Terry took a seat at the Gryffindor table, Josh doing the same beside him, and looked up at the staff table to see Dumbledore waving at him. Hermione seemed pretty serious when she said that he should not have trusted Dumbledore and he wondered what was wrong with him. However, he decided to take her advice, just to be extra precautious.

He was so deep in thought as he ate that he did not notice anything that was going on around him until the doors to the great hall swung open and professor Quirrel was standing in the doorway. Terry immediately sensed that something was wrong by Quirrel's white face and frightened expression.

'TROLL,' Quirrel shouted, 'IN THE DUNGEONS!!! TROLL!!!'

Everyone in the great hall fell silent, shocked.

'Just thought you ought to know,' Quirrel mumbled, then fell to the floor, unconscious, as he fainted.

As if a switch has been turned on, everyone in the great hall suddenly started screaming, abandoning the food and getting up from their chairs, running around in all directions, pushing each other in panic.

'SILENCE!' Everyone stopped in their trucks at the shout and looked around to see Dumbledore on his feet, looking alarmed. As he spoke again, however, he sounded surprisingly calm, 'I want everyone to return to their dormitories,' he said quietly, but no one had any difficulty hearing him as the silence in the great hall was deathly, 'prefects, make sure all the students return safely to their dormitories, teachers, come with me.'

There was suddenly noise of shuffling feet as everyone started walking towards their respected dormitories, somewhat more calmly, although still with some nervous muttering. Terry and Josh followed Percy with the rest of the Gryffindors.

'How do you think a troll got in?' Terry heard Neville ask Ron.

'Not on its own,' Ron answered, 'trolls are really stupid.'

Terry suddenly realized that Ron was right. He has read lots of books about the magical world and the first thing any book said about trolls was about their stupidity, which meant that someone must have gotten it in, for some reason. He was trying to figure out who would want to do such a thing and why, when Josh suddenly grabbed his arm so tightly it hurt.

'Ouch! What?'

'What do you mean "what?" are you crazy? There's a troll in the castle!'

'So? don't tell me you are scared of it.'

Josh hit him on the head, 'you idiot,' he said, 'there's a _troll_ in the castle and you expect me to just walk away?'

'Oh, _oh_,' Terry said as he suddenly realized what Josh meant, 'brother you _are_ a genius!' he said excitedly, as they both sneaked away from the group of Gryffindors and started heading towards the dungeons.

They started running, turning round the now familiar corners. They were about to turn right, when Terry spotted something on their left and stopped so abruptly that Josh bumped into him. Josh was going to say something obviously not… pleasing for the ears, when he stopped himself as he saw the same shadow Terry spotted; it was obviously the troll, and it seemed to be dragging something heavy behind it. It also looked a bit bigger than Terry has imagined it to be.

'I think the troll has left the dungeons,' Terry said excitedly, 'come on.' he started walking towards it, but it was walking far too quickly with its large legs, so Terry and Josh had to jog to keep up, discussing different ways to kill a troll.

'Maybe we shouldn't kill it,' Josh suggested, 'we could just keep it as a pet.'

'Ha ha,' Terry said dryly, 'not funny.'

The troll suddenly stopped in front of an open doorway and peered inside stupidly. Then it went inside, dragging the club it was carrying heavily behind it. Terry and Josh ran faster, trying to keep up with it so that they could corner it, when they suddenly heard a scream which sounded suspiciously like Hermione Granger.

'Great,' Josh said, 'that stupid Granger has gotten there before us. I'm telling you - it's not fair, we were supposed to get the troll first.'

Terry glanced sideways at Josh to see if he was joking. Knowing him, he probably was, but he was also half serious about losing the troll. 'Err, I don't think Hermione went there to get the troll,' Terry commented dryly.

Josh slapped himself on the forehead, 'right,' he said, 'I'm so stupid, but it still doesn't solve our problem; she is gonna tell the teachers we came looking after the troll.'

Another scream sounded from the open doorway, which turned out to be a girls' toilets.

'She wouldn't,' Terry said, 'because she will be dead unless we go in there now.'

They looked at each other, then sprinted inside the room, just in time to see the troll swinging its club down on Hermione's head. Hermione ducked, rolling on the floor. She suddenly spotted them and mumbled something under her breath which Terry could not hear, but was, nevertheless, glad about it.

The troll pulled its club up again, ready for another swing, when Josh shouted towards it, 'Ohey! Pea - brain!' he picked a bit which was broken off the door and threw it at the troll's head. The troll did not even notice as he swung his club down, shuttering the sink Hermione was under as she ducked again.

Terry picked a piece of the broken sink, which was heavier than he anticipated, and threw it as hard as he could at the troll's head. It connected with a 'thud', like a brick hitting a wall. The troll shook its head stupidly, as if to try to clear it, and turned its massive head towards Terry and Josh, noticing them for the first time. It had two big, brown eyes, which were almost completely covered by its thick eyebrows. Its head was bald with only a few hairs sticking out at odd angles.

'Oh, finally,' Josh really did sound relieved, 'I thought it was never gonna notice us.'

They both got their wands out and started firing spells, which all connected with the troll, but had no impact. The troll started heavily towards them. They both backed away, still firing spells, which had absolutely no effect on it.

Terry looked sideways at Josh, 'any more bright ideas?'

Josh nodded his head, sweating, but not looking away from the troll, 'one. Contact fighting, but, somehow, I don't think that's gonna work.'

'Two hundred points for figuring that out,' Terry said dryly, 'I can't believe you actually managed to think about it.'

Terry did not get a chance to say anything else as the club was swung down towards his head. From this close, Terry suddenly realized that the club was much bigger than it looked, which made it impossible to duck from such a close range. Instead, he did what instinct told him to do and put his hands forwards to block the club. He managed to catch it, but the only problem was that it was lifted up, which meant that Terry was lifted up _with_ it.

'Whoa,' Terry gasped as the club was raised over the troll's head. He lost his grip and started to fall down, flailing his arms around as he tried to hold on to something. Fortunately, he managed to grip something. Unfortunately, that something was the troll's head, and Terry found himself sitting on the troll's massive shoulders.

The troll seemed annoyed as he reached its hand back, trying to hit Terry. Terry moved as much of his body as he could to the left, ducking the troll's hand. The troll only managed to hit itself on the head. It groaned, somehow realizing with its small brain that hitting Terry was not going to work. Instead, it took hold of Terry's ankle and held him upside-down with one huge hand and Terry found himself looking at the world from a very interesting angle with his hair standing on end as if it was electrocuted. Josh was looking at him, wide eyed, seemingly standing upside-down on the floor.

'Hey, you stupid creature, let me down, you son of a bitch!' Terry shouted, trying to wriggle free. Obviously, the troll did not understand what he said. It pulled the club back and swung it in Terry's direction.

Terry quickly ducked, then looked at Josh, 'stop standing there like an idiot!' he shouted, 'do something!'

Josh's wide-eyed look disappeared, to be replaced with a mischievous smirk, 'what do you expect me to do?' he asked innocently, 'you already know nothing works on it.'

'DO ANYTHING!' Terry shouted, ducking the club again.

Josh spoke fast, 'OK, let me think… since nothing works on the _troll_, we should try doing something to _you_, to make the troll release you. For example, we could try to cut off your leg - I know this really good spell-' Terry gave a choked cry which Josh ignored, 'or maybe we wouldn't actually need to use magic - remember when Mrs. Cole got Hart and started beating him? The bite he gave her was really effective. The way she shrieked… it was very fun to see, I wish I was the one to do it, but, anyway, I don't think this will work on the troll so what we could do…' he suddenly stopped talking as Terry started shouting;

'SHUT UP, JOSH, AND DO SOMETHING, BECAUSE IF YOU DON'T THAN I AM NOT GOING TO HAVE A BROTHER WHEN I GET DOWN THERE BECAUSE-' he ducked a swing of the club, 'I'M-' he ducked another swing, 'GONNA KILL HIM!!!' his head was starting to hurt as all the blood rushed to his head and his face was burning both from the blood rushing to his head and from the effort of shouting.

'OK, OK, chill down, bro,' Josh smirked, 'anyone who heard you would have thought that you were getting attacked by a troll,' then, seeing Terry's look, he thought for a moment, 'OK, relax, you told me to do anything - _Wingardium Leviosa_! What? You told me to do anything!' he added as Terry shot daggers at him with his eyes. He did not even have time to see the effects of the spell, but a moment later, his eyes widened as he realized that the troll's club got out of its hands and was hovering over its head.

'Huuuh?' the troll said stupidly, looking up at the club and releasing Terry's ankle without noticing.

Terry did a small flip in the air and landed on his feet beside Josh, 'thanks for nothing,' he muttered, holding his aching head with both hands and trying to keep his balance. He was feeling quite dizzy.

'Hey, it was no problem,' Josh said cheerfully, 'that's what brothers are for.' he made the club fall down on the troll's head. The club was probably heavier than it seemed because the troll started falling down. Terry and Josh hurried to get away as the troll fell down on the floor with a huge 'thud.' It had a big lump on top of its head where it was hit with the club.

'Sweet,' Terry commented, then shot Josh a dirty look, 'Too bad you didn't get hit - you would have deserved it.'

Before Josh could answer, Hermione came forward, brushing dust out of her robes, 'well done,' she said sarcastically, 'you would have gotten a first place in any competition for idiocy.'

For the second time in their lives, Terry and Josh looked at each other in disbelief as Hermione spoke; she did not even seem to realize that there was an unconscious troll in the room. She, however, ignored their looks and continued speaking as if she has swallowed a textbook, 'no spells work on a troll or other big magical creatures such as dragons or giants unless lots of people use a combination of spells at the same time or a very dark curse is used; the only thing that works on it is if you hit it in the eye as that is its most vulnerable spot.'

'Thanks for telling us now,' Josh said ironically, 'but I think we did fine by ourselves, thanks.'

Hermione shook her head, 'that was only luck; you wouldn't do as well next time.'

'Next time?' Terry asked before he could help himself.

'Next time,' Hermione confirmed, 'you are not as safe as other people here now that Dumbledore knows who you are. I am pretty sure he will be trying to kill you.'

Terry shook his head disbelievingly; was she actually suggesting that Dumbledore was trying to kill them??! 'you are insane,' he informed her, 'now, if you don't mind, me and Josh need to get out of here before the teachers arrive. Goodbye.'

But before he even finished the sentence, a large group of teachers stormed into the room, Mcgonagal at their lead. Shit. Now they were in sooo much trouble, all because of _her_.

As Mcgonagal took in the state of the room and the unconscious troll, she finally managed to choke out, 'w… what is the meaning of this? Explain yourselves right now, both of you!' she did not even look at Hermione, obviously. Hermione was the teachers' pet and teachers never thought she did anything wrong. Now that Terry thought about it, neither did the students - Hermione seemed to be doing a pretty damn good job.

'Well, what it is…' Terry stammered,

'We just…' Josh started, trying his own powers.

'It was my fault professor Mcgonagal,' Hermione interrupted. Yet again, she managed to surprise the boys, 'I read about trolls and I thought I could handle them.' she lowered her head and Terry could not help but be impressed at her acting skills, 'I can see now that I was wrong. If Terry and Josh hadn't come here to rescue me I'd… probably be dead.' she finished, hanging her head.

Mcgonagal looked just as surprised as Terry and Josh felt, 'I am very shocked, Mrs. Granger, _very_ shocked. I never expected you to do something so foolish, twenty points will be taken from Gryffindor.' she turned to look at Terry and Josh, 'as for you two, gentlemen, five points…'

Terry lowered his head so that Mcgonagal could not see the smile that played on his lips. Seriously, the punishments here at Hogwarts were too light. Who wanted house points anyway? What could actually happen if a particular house did not win the house cup? His smile suddenly turned into a frown as he suddenly spotted something; Snape's leg was bleeding. There was a deep cut in his left leg and his trousers were torn at that place. Terry raised his head slightly and caught Snape's eye. Immediately, he felt a sharp pain in his scar, the same he had felt in Dumbledore's office, only less severe, but he tried not to show it. Snape frowned, then looked away, covering the cut with his robes.

'… will be awarded to Gryffindor for each of you.' Terry momentarily forgot about Snape as Mcgonagal said this. He faintly wondered why Mcgonagal would award them points, but quickly stopped thinking about it - house points were a pathetic attempt to make the students behave, in his opinion. 'now I want you all to return to your dormitories,' Mcgonagal continued, 'immediately!'

The three kids quickly shuffled out of the room before Mcgonagal could change her mind. As soon as they were out of earshot of the teachers, Josh turned to Hermione, 'what did you do that for?' he asked her. He did not sound grateful - only suspicious.

Hermione did not even look at him as she answered, 'I didn't do it out of the goodness of my heart, believe me,' she said, 'it's just that - I know that you are going to get into loads of trouble during your stay here - I can explain everything as soon as we get to somewhere quiet where we can talk privately.'

They continued walking in silence, neither Josh nor Terry wanting to say anything as they did not know if to take Hermione seriously or not. As they arrived at the spiraling staircase which led to the Gryffindor common room, the tension in the silence grew so great that Terry could almost feel it in the air. 'Come on,' Hermione urged them as she was walking much more quickly than they did and already reached the top of the staircase. Then she let out a small shriek as the staircase moved so abruptly that she almost fell down through the gap which formed where she was just standing a moment ago before she jumped back to avoid it.

'What's going on?' Terry asked.

'The staircases are moving in different directions at different times of the day,' Hermione explained, 'didn't you two listen to Dumbledore's speech on the first day?'

'No,' Terry and Josh said in unison. Hermione sighed.

'Whatever,' Terry said, 'lets get off now quickly before the staircase moves again.'

'It wouldn't,' Hermione said, 'at least not in at least three hours.' Terry and Josh both ignored her as they all climbed up the rest of the stairs, looking around them.

'Any idea where we are?' Josh asked, looking around him as Terry and Hermione did the same.

'I think… this is the third floor corridors. We are not supposed to be here - don't tell me - you didn't know that because you didn't listen to Dumbledore's speech.' Hermione said sarcastically.

'Hey, how did you know that?' Terry shot back ironically.

Josh, with his selective hearing, only caught one part of the conversation, 'we are not supposed to be here?' he asked, excited, 'does that mean that there is supposed to be another beast around here? Cool! Where do we start looking?'

'I'll be damned if I listen to one more word you say for the rest of your life,' Terry told Josh dryly, 'I can't believe I actually listened to you with the troll - we almost got killed,' he informed him. Hermione just shook her head.

Josh was about to answer when his eyes widened, 'it's Filche's cat,' he said. Terry and Hermione both looked around and spotted the same glowing green eyes Josh saw staring at them, 'run!'

They all turned around in the opposite direction and started running. Filche's cat, Mrs. Norris, was always with her owner, which meant that Filch must have been somewhere close by, and everyone knew about Filche's greatest habit - catching children out of bed at night, which was why he was always caught strolling the castle at night, patrolling the corridors. So far, Fred and George, Ron's twin brothers, had the greatest record of being caught by Filch.

They rounded a corridor to their right, then took the nearest left to try to confuse Filch and entered the first door they saw, shutting it quickly and leaning on the door, breathing heavily. Terry caught his breath pretty quickly and looked around him. They were in an old classroom, and they were not alone. Peeves, the school's poltergeist, was writing rude words on the blackboard and throwing the chalks he used into the bin, cackling madly. He looked around as they entered, and his smile broadened, 'Ooooooh! Ickle first years out of bed at night, and in the forbidden corridors! You are in _sooo_ much trouble!'

Terry froze as he realized what Peeves was going to do, 'no Peeves, don't,' he hissed.

Peeves ignored him and shouted at the top of his lungs, 'students out of bed! Hey, Filch! There are students in the east corridor, in classroom number 311, you can come and get them!' then he cackled loudly.

'You are _so_ dead,' Josh hissed at him.

Peeves, who was, in fact, dead, just laughed even more loudly. Terry opened the door, getting ready to run, Hermione following, when he realized that Josh was not following. He reached his hand inside the classroom and dragged Josh, who was banging his fists and swearing at Peeves, out. Josh finally had the sense to follow, but, unfortunately, Peeves was also following them and shouting loudly to attract Filche's attention.

Suddenly, they were faced with a dead end with only a small door to run into. Terry knew it was stupid, because as soon as Filch arrived he would know that this was where they were, but this was their best chance, so he walked towards the door and tried to open it. It was locked. He got his wand out, '_alo-homora_,' he whispered. There was a small _click_ and the door opened. They all shuffled inside, closing the door behind them and listening intently. Filch arrived there just a few seconds after they have closed the door as Terry could hear his voice.

'Were there students out of bed, Peeves?' Filche's voice asked.

'Ooooooh, yeah, first years out of bed, patrolling forbidden corridors!'

'Which way did they go in?' Filche's voice sounded urgent.

- 'Say please.'

- 'What?'

- 'Say please.'

- 'Stop it, Peeves! We both know you ain't got no manners, you're just trying to get on my nerves, aren't you? Where the hell did they go?'

- 'I won't say nothing till you don't say please.'

Terry vaguely wondered why Filch did not check in that classroom. It might have been because he thought that they could not open the locked door, or he might have somehow not spotted it.

- 'Peeves - I'm warning you…'

- 'Whass' the matter? You should be glad that I've changed for the better.'

There was a small pause, then Terry heard Filche's voice again, 'OK, _please_.' he said.

- 'Nothing!! I told you I won't say "nothing" if you don't say please! Ha ha ha…'

Peeve's laughter died away as he got away from the place. He must have hated Filch even more than he hated students. A few minutes later, Terry heard Filch swear and his footsteps got further and further away till they were not heard anymore.

'Phew!' Terry said, 'lucky that door's here. I wonder why it's locked, though.'

'It _was_ locked,' Hermione corrected him.

'… and for a good reason,' came the delightful voice of Josh.

_Uh-oh_. It must have been something bad if Josh sounded happy. Terry turned around slowly and looked at the room they entered for the first time. The first thought that crossed his mind was _oh, shit, not again_. Inside was a dog. A _huge_ dog. Three times the size of all three of them put together. And it was staring at them with _six_ eyes, which were connected to _three_ heads. Apparently, they were interrupting it's nap, and the only reason it did not tear them apart yet was because they have just woken it up and it was too surprised at being intruded so suddenly.

'Err, Josh?' Terry said dryly, 'I think we found your beast, but I'm not staying here to fight it as well. Let's get the hell _outta here_!'

He did not have to say it twice as Hermione already opened the door before he had a chance to finish the sentence. The dog finally seemed to realize what was going on and lunged its three heads towards the kids. They all climbed out of the door quickly, except for Josh, who was being dragged by Terry, and quickly tried to shut the door. They might have succeeded in doing that if Josh was not only pretending to help, but, as it was, the dog finally managed to open the door and stormed out, facing them with its three menacing heads.

They all got their wands out, including Hermione. 'way to go, Vlady,' Terry muttered, 'I really hope you are happy now.'

'Gee, thanks,' Josh answered, starting to fire spells at the dog.

Hermione looked exasperated, 'didn't you listen to what I told you a few minutes ago?' she asked Josh.

'I never listen to what you say, bitch,' Josh answered.

Hermione looked totally cool as she pointed her wand at the dog, and muttered a spell. The spell hit the dog in the eye and it yowled in pain, 'see? Just firing spells wouldn't help you. Its skin is too tough - aim at the eye.' then she looked at Josh, 'I can't say that you're a son of a bitch because your mum was a total angel, although that does not mean that you can't be a dog - mutations occur every day.'

Terry laughed. She managed to surprise him yet again. He did realize that she was more different than she looked, but he had no idea that she could swear like that. If they were to hang out together, he knew that things were going to always be interesting between her and Josh. Josh shot daggers at him as he laughed, but Terry just shrugged and aimed a spell at one of the dog's eyes. It worked like magic; the yowl of pain the dog gave was very satisfying. 'hey, why don't you try it yourself, Vlady?' he asked Josh, who was sulking. Josh glared at him, but he had no other choice but to listen to him because Terry and Hermione could not overpower the dog on their own.

The noise they were making was probably too great because a few minutes later they heard footsteps approaching them. This time, however, they were not able to run away because they were all locked in combat with the giant three headed dog, so that when Filch finally arrived, he had the shock of his life as he found the three eleven year old kids fighting the monster.

'What the…' he started, then changed in mid-sentence as he remembered that he was not allowed to swear in front of students, 'what's going on?'

_Not a very clever question_, Terry noted to himself, but all he said aloud was, 'this thing is attacking us.'

'Yeah,' Josh added. He must have been getting tired because he then said, 'could you please help us?'

'Oh, right,' Filch said, reaching his hand inside his robes and producing…a flute? He put the flute to his mouth and started playing it. Terry was too concerned about his sanity to laugh about it. To his surprise, however, the dog suddenly slumped onto the floor, unconscious.

'Hey, I never knew music could kill dogs,' Josh commented, 'or maybe it just depends on how bad the music is.'

The dog gave a huge snore. 'It's not dead, it's sleeping,' Filch sneered, 'you, however, are going to be happy if you get to sleep tonight.' he smiled evilly, 'follow me.'

The three kids looked at each other, then followed Filch reluctantly, 'you are in really big trouble,' Filch said delightedly, 'if it was up to me, I would have hung all three of you in the dungeon by your ankles, just like the good old days. Ahh, how I miss those days… the screams at night… music to my ears,' he had a dreamy expression on his face as he led them on through the castle, but that expression suddenly disappeared, 'unfortunately, that punishment has been banned, but, don't worry, I'm pretty sure the headmaster will find a suitable alternative.'

Terry suddenly caught Hermione's eye. She looked worried. He raised his eyebrows at her, and she shook her head slowly, 'what is it?' Terry whispered so that Filch could not hear them. Josh's eyes shot up.

Hermione shook her head again, 'don't you think it's a bit weird?' she whispered back, 'two monsters at the same day? I'm telling you - Dumbledore is trying to kill you. I just hope everything will be OK once we get to his office. I wanted to tell you something today, but I didn't get the chance to. I'm…really sorry. I hope I'll get a chance to tell you tomorrow.'

Josh snorted, 'you're talking as if we're gonna die.'

'Don't be ridiculous,' Hermione snapped, 'Dumbledore is very precautious - he wouldn't do something which will leave evidence against him. He will only try to kill you in indirect ways.'

'You are crazy,' Josh informed her.

'If I'm crazy then I don't have any words to describe your mental condition,' Hermione answered heatedly.

It would have gone on if they were not being led to Dumbledore's office in the middle of the night, 'what's going on there? What are you whispering about?' Filch asked. Hermione and Josh immediately fell silent and continued in this way until they reached the entrance to Dumbledore's office. 'sherbet lemon,' Filch said to the gargoyle, which leapt aside in response. Terry made a mental note to remember this password, just in case.

They all climbed up the spiraling staircase. When they reached the top, Filch knocked on the door. 'Come in,' Dumbledore's voice sounded from the inside.

Filch looked delighted as he pushed the door open and practically shoved the three kids inside. Terry looked around and was not surprised to find that all of the teachers who have seen them with the troll were present inside. Dumbledore, however, looked _very_ surprised to see them. Filch took this opportunity to announce theatrically, 'headmaster,' he said, 'I found those three children in the forbidden grounds, fighting Floppy,' he seemed to be fighting himself, but he finally could not take control of himself as he added, 'what punishment do you suggest? Could we use the dungeons _just_ this once?'

Floppy? Was that the dog's name, or what? Terry tried not to snigger. Dumbledore, however, looked very serious, 'I think this punishment would be very suitable, after what they did today, but, unfortunately, this punishment has been banned, as you probably know.'

'Yes headmaster,' Filch looked genuinely disappointed.

Dumbledore turned to look at the kids, 'and what, may I ask, were you doing in the forbidden grounds at this hour of the night? Was one troll not enough to satisfy your craving for adventures?' he asked, looking at them severely. Terry thought that he looked a bit like Mcgonagal in this way, which was a bit scary. When all of them stayed quite, Dumbledore turned to Filch again, 'what have you done with Floppy?' he asked him.

Filch blanched, 'I…I left him where he was,' he said apologetically.

'Very well,' Dumbledore said, 'you can go now, I can deal with the rest myself.' Filch shuffled out of the door. 'Minerva?' Dumbledore turned to Mcgonagal, 'would you be kind enough as to return Floppy back to the room?'

'Certainly, headmaster,' Mcgonagal answered, leaving the office as well.

Dumbledore turned to the rest of the teachers, 'the meeting is over, you can all go as well.'

All ten of the remaining teachers walked towards the door at the same time. Snape was the last one to leave, when Dumbledore stopped him, 'Severus, I'd like you to stay here.' Snape frowned in confusion, but did as he was told. 'Now,' Dumbledore said, 'which of you will be kind enough to tell me why you decided to go to the third floor corridor in the middle of the night?'

Terry looked at Josh and Hermione; Josh looked lost for words and Hermione resumed her usual act. She looked like she was going to burst into tears any second, and Terry would have believed it if he did not know any better. He suddenly realized that it was him who was going to do the explaining. Some quick thinking told him that the best thing to do was to tell the truth, except for the bits with Josh's idiocy.

'Well,' Terry started, 'after we left the troll, we wanted to go straight back to our dormitories, but the staircase changed and brought us to the third floor corridor. Then we saw Filche's cat and panicked, so we started running and accidentally got into that room where you keep the dog. I'm sorry if we caused any damage to it if it was valuable, or something…' Terry finished, looking at Hermione. He was not sure, but he thought she gave him a slight nod of approval without lifting her head up.

Dumbledore sighed, 'I am sorry, but I really don't know if to believe you or not, you see, your father was a great troublemaker himself when he attended this school.'

Snape spoke for the first time, 'I thought he was an orphan?' it was part question part statement and Terry found himself getting annoyed at the way Snape spoke a if he was not there.

'Oh, he definitely is,' Dumbledore answered, 'in fact, this is why I brought you here, I thought you had a right to know - these two boys are Lilly and James' kids.'

For some reason, Snape's lip curved, but Terry did not think much about it as hot white anger surged through his body, 'I thought you told us you were not going to tell anyone,' he hissed.

Josh spoke at the same time as Terry did, 'you son of a bitch!' it seemed to get out of his mouth without him having control over it. Dumbledore, however, either ignored it, or he did not hear it because Terry and Josh spoke at the same time. Any other time, Terry would have hoped it was the latter, but right now he was too angry to care.

What angered Terry even more, was the light tone which Dumbledore used next as he answered, 'I'm really sorry, it's just that, professor Snape and your father used to be very good friends when they used to attend this school. I just thought he had a right to know.' for some reason, Terry thought that he was lying, a thought which was confirmed by the low hiss Snape gave.

'The Potters only had one son,' he said. Terry's anger grew further as Snape said that. Why was he pushing his nose into other people's business?

'Oh, no,' Dumbledore answered calmly, 'these two boys are twins. Their parents decided to hide the fact that they had two sons because they did not want Voldemort to go after the two of them.'

Josh gave a low hiss surprisingly similar to Snape's, 'I think you should stop here,' he advised Dumbledore, 'I really don't appreciate people discussing my history.'

Dumbledore looked very uncomfortable. Or was it an act? Terry could not tell. 'Look, as I told you already, I'm really sorry for doing what I did,' Dumbledore said, 'I know that I shouldn't have told anyone without your permission and I beg forgiveness, but for now, I think you can go to your beds. You will not receive any punishment whatsoever.'

Terry, however, was not prepared to let it go _that_ easily. Hermione knew who they were, but Dumbledore did not know that, 'what about Hermione? You didn't seem to care that she heard.'

Dumbledore stayed calm, 'again, I am very sorry about it. I did not realize that she was here. But she wouldn't tell anyone, will you, Mrs. Granger?' Hermione nodded her head, 'good,' Dumbledore said, as if the matter was solved.

But it seemed that Terry was not the only one not satisfied about Dumbledore's answers, 'I am really very sorry as well,' Josh said ironically, 'but I'm not prepared to leave until you give me some answers. What were two monsters doing in the castle? Surely, you should have taken your students safety into consideration. Take me, for example,' he put on the most innocent look he could muster, 'if I knew what was lurking around these corridors, _ahem_, I wouldn't have come to Hogwarts.'

This time, Dumbledore looked annoyed for the first time ever. Well, Terry knew that there was a first time to everything, and something that big could only be triggered by Josh, who had a special cunning ability to get on people's nerves, 'I do not expect students to understand the actions I take for this school. If you have any problems with the way this school is ran you are more than welcome to leave.'

Immediately startled by this comment, Terry looked up to see what Josh's reaction would be. Terry never told Josh, but he did have some thoughts about leaving Hogwarts for the past few days. After all, he was much ahead of the rest of the students, and they were keeping him back, and he would learn much faster on his own. Now that he knew everything there was to know about himself, he did not know what the point of staying at Hogwarts was.

His thoughts now strayed to what Hermione told him and Josh. He was not sure that what she said was true; Dumbledore seemed pretty harmless. Then again, looks could be deceiving. He decided that the chances of the things Hermione had told them being true were fifty-fifty, which was too much, in his opinion. Having a psychopath for a headmaster was definitely a bad thing.

Terry tried to generate what he was thinking on to Josh with his look. Josh looked at him, frowning, but that expression disappeared quickly as Josh's face suddenly cleared up and he looked at Terry unbelievingly. Josh stared at him for a few seconds, then he nodded his head very slowly. Terry smiled at him. So it was settled. They were going to leave Hogwarts.

'OK,' he told Dumbledore, 'we'll go and get our bags. We're ready to leave.'

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I know, this is the worst ending I did to a chapter so far. Can't wait till the next chapter- you are going to find out about Hermione and maybe Dumbledore and Dean!

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	7. Chapter 7

Thanks for reviewing, everyone! Like I said, I make some mistakes with the characters- I didn't read the book so carefully. I also have no idea what Dean really looks like, so I made something up as well. Oh, and, by the way, the twin are strong because they work out-it's their magical abilities which are supposed to be a mystery.

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**Chapter 7:**

Dumbledore seemed genuinely surprised at Terry's request to leave Hogwarts, because all that came out of his mouth was, 'what??'

Terry was probably the first person in history to have willingly requested to quit.

It was Josh, however, who replied, spotting, as usual, a golden opportunity to annoy someone, 'you heard him, we are ready to leave your stinking school,' he said, obviously not caring about anything now that he knew he could not receive any punishments once he was out of there.

Dumbledore looked as if he thought they have both lost their minds, a thought which was, apparently, shared with Snape, who looked surprisingly happy at what was going on. As Terry studied Snape's face, he thought that, far from being great friends, his father and Snape must have hated each other, judging by Snape's attitude towards them and by Terry's excellent instinct to spot those kinds of things. 'I didn't mean what I said,' Dumbledore said quickly. Too quickly. Terry was starting to get suspicious. He was also starting to feel a bit like Sherlock Holmes, from the negative point of view of it, and it was starting to give him a headache, 'of course you can stay here. This is your place, this is where you belong,' Dumbledore said.

Terry, however, did not fall for it. He knew that, usually, he would have believed every word Dumbledore said, but upon looking at him closely due to everything he has heard so far, a hint of falseness could be detected in his tone and in his expressions. It looked as if everything Dumbledore did was fake, just like Hermione's permanent act of a new personality which, now that he thought about it, he still did not know the reason for.

'I'm really sorry, old man,' Josh said, 'but you've missed your train - we're outta here.'

'But,' Dumbledore was clearly trying to hide his desperateness, 'what about your carers? They should be informed.'

'Oh, don't worry about Mrs. Cole,' Terry objected, 'she cares about us just as little as you care about your other students.'

Terry and Josh both walked towards the door. As Josh opened the door, Terry stopped at the doorway, turning towards Dumbledore, 'oh, and say bye to Dean from me. We weren't exactly great friends, but he was the sanest.'

'You can try going out of the castle, but I don't think you can succeed,' Terry stopped in his trucks and turned around, eyebrows raised, as Dumbledore said this, 'you see, I've placed shields all around the castle,' he added calmly, and Terry was starting to get impressed at his ability to get control himself so quickly.

Smiling bemusedly, Terry waved his hand dismissively, 'nah, we're going through the forbidden forest.'

- 'You can't'

- 'Why not? We've got our brooms.'

- 'You don't know how to fly.'

- 'Whatever.'

This statement came from Josh, who was starting to look increasingly impatient, 'we don't owe him a detailed plan of how we're getting out of this damned place, come on,' he urged Terry.

'First of all,' Dumbledore said calmly, 'swearing in this school is strictly forbidden. Five points from Gryffindor. Secondly, _I_ am in charge of you now that you are in this school, which means that _I_ decide if you can leave or not and, for your own safety, you cannot leave.'

Well, that complicated matters a bit. Terry and Josh looked at each other, probably thinking along the same lines; they could just leave and, just in case Charlie decided to tell Dumbledore about them, take on new identities and stay somewhere else. They now had enough money to rent a flat. Shrugging, Terry and Josh both ignored Dumbledore and started walking towards the door. They suddenly stopped as a shield was produced in front of them.

Josh raised his eyebrows, 'are you trying to keep us here against our will?' he asked, 'I think I'm starting to believe what Hermione told me about you - you are a total freak!'

'What Hermione told you?' Dumbledore looked at Hermione, who was standing quietly near the fireplace; she looked just her usual self, but now that Terry learned how to read her, he thought that she looked like she was fighting very hard not to strangle Josh.

Josh ignored Dumbledore and turned to look at the shield in front of him with interest. He reached out a hand to touch it casually, to test its strength. Immediately, he was flung backwards into the office, only stopping when he collided with the wall painfully, 'hey, what the…' he gasped.

Terry's temper now started to rise even higher than it did when Dumbledore told Snape about them. He stormed back into the office, barely noticing that the door shut behind him on its own accord, and stomped his way up till he was level with Dumbledore. Well, not exactly level… he only arrived up to Dumbledore's shoulders, 'what the hell did you do that for?' he yelled at him heatedly.

Dumbledore still looked as calm as ever, 'I did not do anything to him. He should have known not to touch the shield. Shields tend to do those things.'

'Not all of them,' Terry objected, 'in fact, most of them don't; why did you have to use that one?'

Dumbledore looked surprised at Terry's knowledge about shields, but Terry did not give him a chance to answer; he walked towards Josh, helping him to his feet, 'come on, we are getting out of here.' He suddenly noticed that Josh's leg was held in an awkward angle and realized what happened as he turned to Dumbledore, 'you broke his leg,' he informed him.

'I am truly sorry,' Dumbledore said in his calm tone, which Terry now knew was fake, 'I can heal it if you…'

'No, thanks, I don't want you touching me,' Josh interrupted before Dumbledore had a chance to finish his sentence. Terry got his own wand out and pulled the leg of Josh's pants up. He pointed his wand at the purple area, and the unnatural color disappeared immediately, while the leg returned to its normal angle.

'Thanks, bro,' Josh muttered.

'Where did you learn doing that?' Dumbledore asked, 'that was very complicated magic.'

'None of your business,' Terry snapped. His anger had reached some really dangerous levels and he was hardly able to keep himself from lunging towards Dumbledore and rearranging his face with some well aimed punches, 'now, I would appreciate it very much if you would remove the shield. I don't feel like spending the night in this fucking office of yours.'

Knowing that it was the wrong thing to say did not make any difference for Terry, but Snape seemed to have other thoughts going through his head, 'watch what you are saying _Potter_. Now I understand what happened in my last lesson. The memory charm Dumbledore did on you was very unnecessary; only James' son could have such words coming out of his mouth. Two Potters in my class…this is going to be a very difficult year,' he sneered.

Terry did not even blink once. 'Piss off.'

'Mr. Potter!' Dumbledore sounded shocked, 'I expect you to have some more respect towards your teachers.'

- 'And I expect you to remove the shield.'

- 'Not until we sort things out and you give me your word that you are not leaving Hogwarts' gates without permission.'

Terry opened his mouth to argue back, but Josh seemed to have better plans as he took his wand out and pointed it at Dumbledore, 'you heard him. Do as he says!'

Everyone in the room, including Terry, which did mean something as he knew Josh best, was surprised at Josh's reaction. Snape looked outraged, 'how _dare_ you threaten the headmaster!'

Dumbledore, on the other hand, did not look as mad as Snape did, at least, not on the outside, 'put the wand down, Joshua, you don't want anybody to get hurt,' he said calmly.

'Oh, yeah? And who said _that_?' Josh replied.

For an old man, Dumbledore moved very fast; his wand was out in less than a second, and Josh's wand was out of his hand less a millisecond after Dumbledore's wand was out. Catching Josh's wand in one hand, Dumbledore put both his and Josh's wand into his robes, then said as if he was continuing a normal conversation, 'so…where were we? Oh, yes, I want your word that you will not leave Hogwarts without my permission.'

Terry was hardly able to control his anger anymore and he felt like it would be really easy for him to tear Dumbledore apart right at that moment. Josh, however, had a much lower fuse than Terry did, which meant that he did not have any trouble at all in keeping his anger. That is, because he was _not_ keeping it. The next thing Terry knew, there was a black blur flying past him as Josh hurled himself at Dumbledore, who fell down on the floor, surprised, but quickly got to his feet and pulled his wand out again, pointing it at Josh's chest.

'I'm really sorry,' he said apologetically, 'I know that I should not be threatening students, but don't make me do this.'

Josh sneered, 'do what? You ain't got no wand.'

Dumbledore looked at his wand for a second in confusion until it flew out of his hand and landed on the floor. Snape made a surprised noise as his wand also flew out of his robes. Both Dumbledore and Snape looked at Josh with bewildered expressions, unable to guess how he did that.

Josh took Dumbledore's wand in his hand and pointed it directly at Dumbledore, 'remove the shield,' he said dangerously, 'now! You can't force anyone to stay here in your…less than pleasant company.'

Snape sneered at him, 'I have no idea how you managed to do that, boy,' he said. Josh smirked. 'but you are going to learn to respect your teachers.' He slapped Josh hard across the face. Josh was too stunned to do anything as Snape rolled smoothly across the floor and grabbed his wand, pointing it at Josh, whose wand suddenly flew out of his hand. He then flicked his wand once and thick ropes flew out of the wand, wrapping themselves tightly around Josh.

Before he knew it, Terry gave out an angry cry and lunged himself towards Snape in frustration, 'you son of a bitch,' he screamed, 'how dare you do that to me brother?'

Before he reached Snape, however, he collided with something and was flung backwards the same way Josh did when he touched Dumbledore's shield. A second later he realized that what he had collided with was another shield Dumbledore produced. He was flung back hard, colliding with the wall and landing on the floor in a heap, his whole body aching. He then felt strong ropes snaking around his body, binding him tightly. Both of his hands were pulled back and pinned together so tightly that he was sure that the ropes were cutting his flesh. He looked up to see Snape hovering above him with his wand held out in front of him.

Terry glared at him, struggling against the ropes. Snape's lip curled, 'your _brother_ attacked me,' he said, answering Terry's question and leaning down to take his wand from his robes.

If he could, Terry would have argued that _he _did not attack anyone, but his mouth was gagged and he could not make any sound.

Dumbledore, however, looked apologetic, 'I'm really sorry we had to come to this,' he started. Terry vaguely wondered how many times Dumbledore had to apologize in one day, but stopped quickly because just thinking about it was giving him a headache.

Dumbledore walked towards Josh and flicked his wand once, removing his gag. Josh immediately let out a stream of some very colorful curses.

Looking up at the ceiling Dumbledore said, 'I have gone temporarily deaf and have not heard what you just said.'

Josh repeated the same curses again and smiled innocently at Dumbledore, 'did you hear it _now_?' he asked. For the second time ever, Josh managed to remove Dumbledore's calm mask as his eyes flashed angrily, but, as before, it was only temporary.

Dumbledore was going to say something, when Terry made some angry noises through his gag. 'I'm really sorry, Harry,' Dumbledore said. Terry's blood boiled as Dumbledore mentioned that name. Terry has already asked Dumbledore not to call him that. '…but we only need one of you to answer the questions I have for you,' Dumbledore continued.

'I'm really sorry too, _Dumby_,' Josh said, mimicking the way Dumbledore was always apologizing, 'but if you want me to tell you anything then it's gonna be a _reeaally_ long night. What are you gonna do? Torture me?'

'Oh, no, definitely not,' Dumbledore feinted shock, 'what made you think I am so barbaric? I'm only going to give you a truth potion, it's as simple and effective as that.'

Josh's confident look seemed to waver a bit, but he somehow kept his cool, 'pah! Truth potions don't work on me!' he informed Dumbledore confidently. Terry was not as sure as Josh, but his opinion was not asked for at that particular moment.

Ignoring Josh, Dumbledore turned to Snape, 'could you please give me one of the strongest truth potions you have?'

Snape smirked as he reached his hand inside his robes, producing a tiny bottle of a fine, clear liquid. 'I keep it with me wherever I go,' he explained, 'just in case it is needed.'

Terry felt an ice hand gripping his heart as he saw the bottle. It was verituserum, and it was not one of the strongest truth potions in the world; it was _the_ strongest truth potion in the world. He could not let it happen. If Josh told Dumbledore everything, then Terry was going to get stuck in Hogwarts for the rest of his life. That is, during the year, but at the holidays he was going to return to the orphanage. Terry shuddered, unable to decide which one of these was worse. He struggled hard against the ropes, but already knew that it was hopeless.

Josh was still trying to keep cool, 'verituserum,' he said, 'strongest truth potion in the world, made from finely chopped Girm leaves, powdered toad's legs…' he continued reciting the ingredients, '…and not in the least effective on someone like me.' he finished.

Snape smirked, 'we'll see… what makes you think so?'

'What kinda question's that?' Josh asked in return, 'I'm one of a kind!'

Dumbledore swished his wand once, and Josh was stunned, unable to move as if he was a stone statue. Dumbledore gripped his jaw and poured a few drops of the potion into his open mouth. He then un-froze him and looked into his eyes, which were now staring at Dumbledore blankly.

Terry could not watch. Josh was now going to tell them everything, and there was nothing to stop it from happening. He struggled a little more against the ropes, helplessly.

Dumbledore ignored Terry and turned to look at Josh, 'OK, Josh,' Dumbledore said, 'I'm going to ask you questions, and you are going to answer very truthfully. Is that fine with you?'

'No,' Josh answered, face blank.

Dumbledore smiled, 'I thought so.' he said, 'how did you learn to do wandless magic?'

'Practiced,' Josh answered shortly.

'Where?' Dumbledore asked.

_No! _Terry knew that Dumbledore did not mean to ask for the location; he meant to ask how he learned that, but the potion worked differently. Josh was very likely to tell Dumbledore the exact location of where they have stayed for the past three years.

Josh opened his mouth to answer. Terry was so desperate, that he found himself thinking desperately, _no, Josh, don't answer that question!_

- _'What?'_

_- 'What?'_

_- 'Hey, what's going on? Terry, I can hear your voice in my head. How are you doing that?'_

_- 'I…I don't know, I mean, what? How the hell am I supposed to know what's going on? I mean, can you hear me? I mean, you can read my thoughts! No, wait, that's not important right now. What's important is that you don't answer Dumbledore's question. Do you hear me, Josh? __don't answer his question__!'_

_- 'Come on, Renaldo, do you think I'm _that_ stupid? Why the hell would I answer it?'_

_-'I don't know,'_ Terry answered dryly, _'maybe because you have just drunk the world's strongest truth potion and have already answered two of Dumbledore's questions truthfully?' _

_- 'Gee, you are right. I can't believe I only noticed it now,'_ Josh sounded puzzled, but he suddenly smiled and looked at Dumbledore, 'could you please repeat the question?' he asked.

Dumbledore looked puzzled, but repeated the question nonetheless. Josh looked as if he was thinking for a moment, 'well,' he said, 'where I learned to do wandless magic…' he pretended to think about it, then, 'you're so _dumb_, I told you already - I practiced it.'

Dumbledore looked surprised at this reaction. Apparently, he has never seen anyone behave like that under the effects of the potion, so he decided to change the question, 'who taught you?'

'In case you haven't noticed yet, Dumby, the person sitting here in front of you is a genius. I don't need anyone to teach me, I learn alone.'

Dumbledore was so surprised that his mouth practically dropped open, 'what?'

'You heard me, Dumby,' Josh answered, then burst out laughing, 'I told you already - that potion doesn't work on me!'

Snape looked ready to snap Josh's neck, 'how the hell did he do that?' he asked, looking at Dumbledore and forgetting that he himself was not allowed to swear.

Dumbledore looked puzzled, 'for the first time, Severus, I am just as clueless as you. I suggest we try the other one.'

Snape still looked mad, but he nodded and turned towards Terry, swishing his wand once so that Terry's gag disappeared. Terry spat at him and felt a surge of victory as, yet again, Dumbledore looked annoyed. He cheered at himself quietly for managing it.

If Dumbledore looked annoyed, there were no words to describe Snape. He looked madder than ever; he wiped the spit from his face with his robes in disgust and pointed his wand at Terry. For a split second, Terry thought that Snape was going to kill him. Then he realized that he was going to stun him, like Dumbledore did to Josh.

Terry suddenly realized something else, which was so obvious that he had no idea why he hadn't thought about it before; he was able to do wandless magic, for god's sake!! Why the hell didn't he use it??! He quickly produced a shield to block Snape's spell. He could do two types of shields; one that absorbed the spell and one that rebounded it. Just for the fun of it, Terry decided to use the rebounding shield. It was very surprising to see Snape move so fast. He had excellent reflexes and he dodged the rebounded spell easily, although he did look surprised at Terry's ability to produce shields wandlessly and, if possible, he was even madder than before. He was so mad, in fact, that his face was starting to reach a very interesting shade of purple.

Just to finish the picture, Terry concentrated on the small bottle in Snape's hand. It suddenly exploded, sending bits of the liquid flying everywhere. Terry smiled proudly, but his smile was quickly wiped off as Snape slapped him, hard, across the face. He suddenly realized that there was a limit as to how mad a person could get. 'HAVE YOU GOT ANY IDEA HOW LONG IT TAKES TO MAKE THIS POTION?' Snape looked more than ready to snap Terry's bones and powder them to make his new potion.

Terry felt his cheek burn where he was hit by Snape, but he tried not to show it, even though the place was probably hot red, 'two years,' he answered automatically.

It was, apparently, the right answer, which did not make Terry's situation any better. Snape pulled his face as close to Terry's as possible without actually touching it, 'that's right,' he said in a dangerously soft voice, 'and have you got any idea how much each one of these cost?'

This time, Terry really did not know the answer, 'no,' he answered.

'That's good,' Snape hissed, 'because you would have had to pay for that if you did not live in an orphanage.'

Terry could not care less, 'oh,' he said blankly.

Snape looked ready to snap again, when Josh spoke, 'OK, folks, I got your point, you kidnapped us, tied us up, blah, blah, blah… what are you gonna do now?'

Terry looked at Josh questioningly. He knew that Josh was trying to say something- he never said any sentence which ended in a question mark without a reason, but he was not exactly sure what Josh was trying to achieve. He suddenly remembered that he could talk to Josh in his head and decided to use it.

'_One more of your little tricks, brother?'_ he asked.

'_Tricks?'_ Josh answered, _'oh, no, this is not a trick, I prefer to call it blackmailing. You see, they tell us what that dog was guarding, let us go without telling anyone what happened and without telling anyone about our identities, and we don't tell on them, the way they kidnapped two boys, and we also stay here. You see, staying here might not be _too_ bad, just think about all those delightful potions lessons.'_

Terry thought about what Josh had just said, and realized that it sounded logical, except for one small bit, _'how do you know that dog was guarding something?'_

_- 'It was standing on a trap door.'_

_- 'Oh. OK, let me do the talking.'_

_- 'Sure, you know I'm no good at it.' _This statement was said ironically.

Terry looked up at Dumbledore, ignoring Josh's last statement, 'OK, we can make a deal,' he told him.

Dumbledore and Snape both reacted suspiciously, 'what kind of a deal?' Dumbledore asked, at the same time as Snape said, 'we do not make deals with students!'

'Well,' Terry started, answering Dumbledore's question and ignoring Snape's statement, 'you tell us what that dog's guarding and stay quite, and we'll keep quite about you as well and stay at Hogwarts, like you want us to, for whatever reason.'

'And what, may I ask, makes you think that Floppy was guarding something?' Dumbledore was looking at him suspiciously.

'Unless what you might think,' Terry said, 'I'm not blind, in case you haven't noticed. That dog was standing on a trap door.'

Dumbledore looked impressed. _'hey, you are talking as if the credit is all yours! I was the one to notice it,'_ Josh moaned in Terry's head. Terry ignored him.

'Yes, that dog was, in fact, guarding something,' Dumbledore confirmed, 'as it is, it is not very…traditional to make deals with students, but I'm willing to make an exception with the two of you,' before Terry could celebrate his success, however, Dumbledore continued, 'but you have to give me your word that you are not going to tell anyone within, or out of, Hogwarts.'

'Fine,' Terry snapped, 'what is it?'

- 'How do I know that you are going to keep your word?'

Terry sighed, twisting his arms unconsciously behind his back and wondering if he was ever going to get out of that place, 'you don't have to believe us,' he told Dumbledore with a tensed calm, 'I'm sure you must really like our company. Maybe you would even be kind enough as to summon a few cups of tea?'

Dumbledore's jaw clenched, and Terry celebrated the second time he managed to get Dumbledore to change his expression, 'fine,' Dumbledore said, 'it's guarding the philosopher's stone. Happy now?'

'No,' Josh answered instead of Terry, 'we don't know what it is.'

'Hermione seems to know,' Dumbledore said, turning towards Hermione, who had a very surprised look on her face, 'she will tell you what it is, won't you, Mrs. Granger?' Dumbledore said, directing the last question at Hermione. Hermione nodded her head, lowering it in the process so that she did not have to look at Dumbledore's eyes. 'Good,' Dumbledore said, turning back towards the two boys, 'now, I'm going to untie you and I do not want you to try anything foolish.'

'Are you kidding me??!' Josh said as soon as the words left Dumbledore's mouth, 'I'm gonna attack you as soon as I'm free.'

Dumbledore looked bewildered, 'what…?'

'_I swear, Josh, I'm gonna kill you when we get outta here! Quit that shit!' _Terry said furiously in Josh's head.

'_OK, relax, brother, I was only kidding,'_ Josh answered, sounding defensive. 'Only kidding,' he repeated, saying that sentence out loud so that Dumbledore could hear it.

Dumbledore shook his head and waved his wand once.

As soon as the ropes disappeared, Josh jumped to his feet, 'boo,' he said.

Dumbledore was unimpressed; Snape shook his head sadly.

Terry was also shaking his head unconsciously as he slowly got to his feet, rubbing his hands where the ropes have cut into them, when he suddenly spotted a huge cut along Josh's back. He looked at Dumbledore accusingly 'we need our wands back.'

Shaking his head, Dumbledore put both of his hands on his desk, 'as a punishment, you will not get your wands back except for lessons, till I decide that you can get it back,' he said.

'I need to heal Josh, he's hurt,' Terry said heatedly, wondering if Dumbledore was only pretending not to know why he wanted his wand back.

'Really?' Josh asked, 'where?'

'Oh, just shut up,' Terry answered, looking at Dumbledore expectantly.

'No, I can heal him if you want to, but you are not getting your wands back,' he said.

'No way,' Josh said as soon as the words left Dumbledore's mouth, 'I prefer to stay this way.'

Terry looked at Josh, then sighed as he pulled his shirt up, 'let me see what I can do.' He concentrated hard on the cut, willing it to seal. To his surprise, he managed to do it quite easily. He then also managed to make the dried blood disappear. He realized that the more he used his powers, the easier it became for him to do new things.

'Thanks. Hey, this is so cool, I should try it next time. I could never have asked for a better brother,' Josh told him. Terry rolled his eyes.

'You can go now,' Dumbledore, who was watching everything quietly, said.

'Not that we needed an invitation to,' Josh muttered, walking towards the door. Terry followed, and was almost surprised as Hermione followed behind him; he completely forgot that she was there.

'And don't forget that you still have an appointment with me on Monday, 9:00 p.m.' Dumbledore called after them. Terry and Josh ignored him.

'Wait,' they all turned in surprise, but this time it was Snape, and not Dumbledore, who stopped them, 'I think I should take them to their dormitories, in case they lose their way again,' Snape explained, 'after all, it would be most unpleasant if they were back here after only a few minutes with Filch saying that he found them… only god knows where.'

Dumbledore looked surprised, 'OK, you can do that,' he agreed, although he looked a bit puzzled.

Terry was not exactly happy about this idea, but did not feel like arguing again, so he said nothing. He vaguely wondered if Snape was planning to murder them as soon as they were out of Dumbledore's eyesight. They all started down the spiraling staircase and out of the main door, which was covered by the leaping gargoyle.

As soon as they were out, Snape turned towards Hermione, to Terry's surprise, 'I know about you,' he told her, 'what did he say?'

Hermione looked as puzzled as Terry felt. She looked up at Snape with a surprised expression, 'what?'

Snape laughed, 'Shigamo always told me you were a good actress. Now I can see it with my own eyes.'

Hermione still looked surprised, but realization suddenly dawned on her features, 'you are working for him?' she asked in disbelief. Snape nodded.

'Hey, what's going on?' Terry asked, 'who the hell is _he_?'

For some reason, Hermione's face suddenly contorted in anger, but she ignored Terry's statement as she looked at Snape, 'if that's so, why did you help Dumbledore?'

'I had to,' Snape replied, 'my job includes gaining his trust. Why didn't you tell them yet?' It was obvious that Snape was trying to change the subject, whatever it was.

Hermione pursed her lips, 'I only found out about them a few hours ago. Didn't get a chance to tell them since then. I talked to Shigamo, though, and he said it's necessary to tell them. I can't believe he didn't tell me he had one of his agents here at Hogwarts; is there anybody else?'

Snape shook his head, 'no, only me, as far as I know. Listen, have you got the mirror with you?' Hermione nodded, 'good, you can contact him, tell him everything that's happened as soon as you get to your common room.'

'Hey, hey, slow down,' Josh said, putting his hands up, 'you two are talking like two old pals, what's happened? Hermione, I was only starting to trust you. If Snape is on your side than I definitely am not.'

Snape smiled coldly, 'you have no choice. There are only three sides; one of Dumbledore and the dark lord, one of the people opposing Dumbledore and the dark lord, our side, and one of the people who think they know everything but know nothing, which is actually most of the people in the wizarding world, including you. This side thinks that Dumbledore is the goody-goody who helps them fight against the dark lord.'

Terry had no idea what Snape was on about, 'what?' he asked.

'Don't listen to him,' Hermione interrupted, 'he's just trying to confuse you by plunging you straight into the middle; I'll explain everything myself once we get to the common room. I don't think anyone's gonna be there at two o'clock in the morning, so we're gonna have it all to ourselves.'

'Hey, you are with the evil potions master, what makes you think I can trust you?' Terry asked, totally meaning it.

'The evil potions master?' Snape asked dangerously.

- 'That's what everyone calls you behind your back.'

Snape gritted his teeth, 'don't think that I'm going to go easy on you just because we're on the same side,' he warned Terry, but Terry knew that the statement was also directed at Josh since they shared the same father.

'Like my brother said earlier, we still don't know if we're on your side, nothing has been explained to us. Anyway, it's gonna take lots of work to convince me that you're the good guy.' Terry replied dryly.

Snape smirked, 'the good guy, huh? Forget about it! for you, I'm always the bad guy. Anyway, can you tell me how you _really_ learned to do wandless magic?'

'Believe me,' Terry said, 'being your favorite student is not exactly on the top of my priority list. As for your question, I'm gonna pretend you didn't ask anything.'

Snape sneered at him, 'I…'

- 'Thank you very much, professor, but I think we'll be fine from here. We can find the rest of the way by ourselves,' Hermione interrupted.

Snape looked annoyed, but nodded and walked off in a different direction.

Josh rubbed his eyes in disbelief, 'did I just hallucinate, or did Snape just listen to Hermione?'

Hermione smirked proudly, 'oh, you have no idea what's gonna happen to him if he doesn't listen to me. Let's just say that someone's gonna be really angry.'

Terry and Josh exchanged confused looks, but said nothing. They finally arrived at the portrait of the fat lady, who was deep asleep. It took them about five minutes to wake her up and say the password, then, they all climbed inside the common room and took the seats near the fire. Like Hermione has predicted, the common room was completely deserted.

'So - care to tell us what this was all about?' Josh asked.

'Mmm…I don't really know where to begin,' Hermione answered.

'The best place to start is at the beginning,' Terry advised.

'I know,' Hermione answered, 'the only problem is that there are two beginnings. One is mine, and one is of a Japanese man in the name of Shigamo. I guess I'll start with my story first.' She said, 'actually, there isn't much to tell about my life before I reached the age of five; I come from a muggle family. My mum is a full muggle and my dad is a squib, a muggle born to a pure wizarding family. My dad hates the wizarding world because of the cruel way his family treated him only because he was different, and he passed this hate on to my mother.'

Terry nodded, listening intently, but unable to understand what this had to do with anything.

'So, you'll probably understand that as soon as I was born, and my parents realized that I was a witch, they hated me for it. They never gave me enough food, closed me in a cupboard for days at a time, and made me work for them like a slave.' (A/N: yes, I know, that's Harry's story in the original book, but I had to make it this way. You'll find out why in a few paragraphs).

'When I was about five years old, a Japanese man called Shigamo came to our house and said that he was from the ministry of magic and that I was supposed to start primary school at a wizarding school. He told them that I would be gone till I reached the age of seventeen. My parents didn't care in the least and signed the papers he gave them immediately.

'I guess I can start with the other part now, which will later join with my story: Dumbledore has been working alongside Voldemort right from the beginning, targeting muggles and killing them, only the killings were done quietly and disguised as accidents, without attracting too much attention. Voldemort was caught killing a muggle red-handed one day and, from then on, he did not bother to hide his actions; he gathered followers and they all attacked in broad daylight. Dumbledore, however, was more precautious. He pretended to help look for Voldemort, while secretly helping him all this time. No one ever suspected Dumbledore and everyone spoke of him as a great man.

'Dumbledore hardly ever made the attacks himself, because getting himself captured would mean both his and Voldemort's downfall, as Voldemort was very dependent on him, but he did kill some people now and then. His biggest shot was at a family reunion of a very wealthy muggle family in Japan. He killed everyone, but one man, Shigamo, managed to escape. He was only lucky because Dumbledore didn't notice him, because, otherwise, he would have been hunted down and killed as well by either Dumbledore or Voldemort's followers, so that he could not tell anyone what he saw.

'Shigamo was the first and last person to see Dumbledore killing muggles with his own eyes. At the time, he knew nothing about the wizarding world, but he did some research; he realized that Dumbledore must have been a wizard, because of the things he did with his wand. He hunted down some wizards, pretending to be one himself, and got as much information as he could about Dumbledore-'

Terry interrupted her suddenly, 'how could he tell that the wizard was Dumbledore?'

Hermione looked at him with a look that suggested that the answer should have been obvious to anyone, 'Dumbledore is famous, Terry, there are hundreds of pictures of him in books and newspapers. He could easily tell that it was the same wizard who killed his family. The first thing that there is to know about Shigamo is that he is not stupid,' Hermione said, 'he managed to put two and two together, especially after finding out as much as he could about the wizarding world from witches and wizards, and set up his own secret organization with the money he inherited from his family. The organization consists mainly of witches and wizards, but there are also some muggles.

'OK, this is the part of the story where I come in; He knew that Dumbledore was a headmaster in this school and decided to find someone who could attend this school so that they could spy on Dumbledore from the inside. He asked some of his agents to do a spell to find out who could be most suitable for it-'

'What??' Josh suddenly interrupted, 'he just wanted to take any kid from their home only so that they could spy on Dumbledore for him?! You can't tell me that he is less evil than Voldemort.'

'Let me finish the sentence,' Hermione said, annoyed, 'he wanted to find the most suitable person in terms of the person who would _benefit_ from this arrangement most, for example, if the kid was an orphan and had to go to foster families all the time. Apparently, my situation was worse than an orphan, as the spell picked me. My parents must have hated me that much! They didn't even think twice before signing the contract. Never mind that it was fake…'

'Wow, it sounds way worse than the orphanage we used to attend,' Terry commented, running a hand through his straight, black hair unconsciously.

Hermione nodded, 'I think it was. Anyway, as I said, the papers he gave my parents were fake, so that no one from the wizarding world had any idea that I stopped living with my parents, including Dumbledore. I went to live with Shigamo, and I am now like his daughter, no, I think I _am _his daughter, in a way, because he kinda adopted me. He definitely did care about me a lot. I guess I'm the only person he has, after his family has been killed, and he's kinda protective of me. He also taught me how to fight lots of different kinds of martial arts. Anyway, Shigamo's agents enchanted my parents house so that any letters arriving there concerning me will arrive at his house, which is how I got my invitation letter to Hogwarts, and that's about it.'

Josh let out a low whistle, 'that's some life story you have, but what does this have to do with us? Why did you have to tell us about it?'

'Well, Shigamo has been investigating the cause of Voldemort's downfall ever since it happened. Your parents' deaths were partly Dumbledore's fault, because he probably helped Voldemort truck them down. When I found out who you two were I contacted Shigamo immediately, and he told me that I can tell you everything so that he will gain your trust.' Hermione explained, 'I have a way of contacting him from Hogwarts through a two way mirror.'

'Two way mirror?' Terry echoed her questioningly.

Hermione nodded, reaching her hand inside her robes and producing a normal looking mirror with an elegant handle, 'this mirror has a twin,' she explained, 'Shigamo has the other one. If you say the name of the person who has the other mirror and concentrate on their face, it makes the other mirror burn. Then you can talk to the other person through the mirror. I put an anti-breaking charm on mine.'

'But, Hermione, look, I'm not trying to say anything, or whatever, but how can you trust what Shigamo told you?' Terry asked, 'how do you know it's true and he's not trying to use you for some personal grudge he has against Dumbledore?'

This time, the tears which filled Hermione's eyes were real, 'he loves me as if I'm his own daughter,' she sobbed, 'I know… I… I was in his mind - I didn't believe him at first, either, so he let me inside. I saw everything and… oh, it was so horrible… I saw Dumbledore kill his family, it was _Dumbledore, _and he had that evil look in his eyes…he was enjoying himself.'

Terry and Josh looked at each other awkwardly; neither of them has ever been in a situation with a crying girl before and they had no idea what they were supposed to do.

Suddenly, all of the three kids looked up sharply as the portrait hall swung open and Dean came storming inside. Hermione quickly dried her tears with the sleeve of her shirt and looked at Dean with narrowed eyes.

Dean did not notice them yet and was storming inside, kicking chairs and other things which came in his way angrily. He suddenly froze as he spotted the three other kids sitting near the fireplace, 'Oh,' his angry look disappeared and he was looking at them with a weird expression which Terry could not quite place, 'what are you doing up at this hour of the night?'



_An few hours earlier, Dumbledore's office, just after the three kids and Snape left:_

Dean was feeling very hot under the watery cloak he was under, which he borrowed from his father, and he was sweating furiously, although he was not sure whether it was because of the heat or because of what he had just witnessed. As soon as everyone left the office, Dumbledore seated himself on his chair heavily and sighed. Dean has never seen his father looking as tired as he did now;

Dumbledore held his head between his two hands, muttering, 'what have I done? What have I done…'

Dean felt his heart pounding as, for the first time in his life, he has seen his father express some kind of weakness.

'It can give everything away…' Dumbledore continued murmuring.

Dean could not stand watching it; it was him, Dumbledore, who had always taught him about keeping his emotions under control, about always being calm. This was what gave Dumbledore his air of power. Now he knew what his father was like when no one was watching, the only time when he could show his emotions.

Walking quietly until he reached the front of Dumbledore's desk, Dean braced himself, putting on the hard, but blank look he had practiced so often in front of the mirror, and took the invisibility cloak off. Dumbledore's eyes immediately shot up in alarm, 'Dean?'

Dean smiled, 'hello, father.' he felt like grimacing as the usual calm mask returned to his father's face.

'Why did you take that cloak without permission? Did you see everything?' Dumbledore's tone was just the same as always as he talked.

'Yes, I saw everything,' Dean answered in the exact same tone as Dumbledore, 'so were they really the Potter twins?'

Instead of answering the question, Dumbledore directed a different question at his son, 'why did you have to hide in this office for?'

Having prepared himself for that question, Dean had an answer ready, 'I had a feeling that you were keeping something away from me, something which you have been keeping from me all along, which is the reason for all this madness, the reason you make me do those things. It's as if you are preparing me for a war.'

Although Dumbledore's features did not change, Dean has learned the skill of detecting changes in is father's eyes, which meant a change of emotion, but apart from that, he could not tell anything else from his features, 'if you are talking about the lessons you are taking, then I can tell you now that you are taking them for self defense, nothing else.'

Dean gave out a short laugh, 'self defense? I feel like I'm being trained to be an assassin! You can't fool me, I know that there is something going on and I know that you're planning to tell me about it sooner or later, so why not just do it now?'

Dean knew that Dumbledore knew that he knew that he was hiding something, but it still did not matter for Dumbledore, who had an attitude of steel, 'there is nothing for me to tell you,' he said in his usual, infuriatingly calm tone, 'oh, maybe there is just one thing…'

Dean's eyes shot up hopefully, 'yes?'

'Don't get too excited,' Dumbledore warned, 'I only wanted to warn you that as much as the Potter brothers seemed dangerous, which they are, Granger is much more dangerous than them. You know why? Because she is sly. Slyness is the most dangerous thing on earth, remember that.'

'I…I don't understand,' Dean muttered, 'why would any of them be dangerous? Why didn't you let them leave? I know that Josh attacked you first, but why did you have to tie them up?'

Shaking his head, Dumbledore lowered his eyes, 'I can't tell you any more than that. Just keep what I said in mind.'

Anger started building up inside Dean, but he would not show it, he could not show it, not in front of _him_, no, he would make him proud and keep his emotions under control, just as he was taught to do ever since he was born, so that when he spoke, his voice was impossibly calm, 'you are my father,' he said simply, 'you should not hide anything from me.'

Dumbledore looked at him with steady, blue eyes, 'go to bed, Dean, it's late.'

He could not keep it bottled up inside any more; the anger inside him was too great to be contained inside for too long. He turned his face away so that Dumbledore could not see his expression and started walking away towards the door. Calm, steady steps. Sure steps. He opened the door and got out without another word.

Only when he was out of the office for sure, past the stone gargoyle, did he allow himself to run. He ran as fast as he could, taking out all of his fury by doing so. At one point, he saw Mrs. Norris staring at him, but he did not slow his pace, not even when he saw Filch in front of him;

'Hey, kid, slow down,' Filch shouted, 'you are coming with me straight to the headmaster's office.'

Dean did not slow his pace in the slightest, nor did he even blink as he went sprinting past Filch. He would have been surprised if Filch even managed to get a glimpse of his face. When he arrived at the fat lady, he was not even out of breath, which made him even angrier as he knew that it was because of the six miles run Dumbledore made him take every day, along with the private tutor who taught him how to fight every single form of martial arts to perfection. He was so sick of it that he even thought about not coming tomorrow, but he squashed that thought just as quickly as he made it up; he would have been dead if he was only late for the lesson in five minutes and just the thought of the consequences he was going to face if he did not attend the lesson at all made him shudder.

He shouted the password at the portrait of the fat lady, ('hey, there is no need to shout! My ears are sensitive!) and stormed his way into the common room. It was the first time in _years _that he has been so angry and he had no idea where it came from. It might have even been a build up of anger over the time. He kicked a chair which came in his way, then punched the table, grabbing a book which lay on it and throwing it at the wall. He suddenly froze when he realized that he was not alone; the three faces of Terry, Josh and Hermione were staring at him.

Trying to resume his blank mask without success, Dean found himself staring at the three kids. He could not believe that he was staring at the last two descendants of the Potter family and at Hermione Granger, the girl Dumbledore told him was dangerous, but who seemed to have been crying, judging by the red patches around her eyes. However angry he might be, Dean always kept his head, no matter what the situation was, and one word his father told him kept ringing in his head. _sly_. This girl was sly, which meant that he should not believe a word she said or a thing she did. All this crying could have well been an act.

'What are you doing up at this hour of the night?' he found himself asking. He praised himself at his quick thinking; none of them knew that he was also present in Dumbledore's office a few hours ago.

'Actually, it's not night anymore, it's morning,' Terry corrected him, 'and I could have been asking you the same question.

Dean had no idea what to say. He found himself wondering which one of the brothers was Harry, but quickly gave himself a mental slap; he should not be wasting his time on thinking about stupid things which did not matter. He focused on what Terry said instead, then smiled, 'hey, you're not the only ones who like getting into trouble,' he said, 'I just decided to see what it would be like to walk around the corridors at night.' he felt like physically hitting himself at this lame excuse for an excuse after he realized just how pathetic it sounded.

'So why come barging in here destroying the common room?' Terry asked. Dean suddenly had a flashback of what Terry had said a few hours ago, _'say bye to Dean from me. We weren't exactly great friends, but he was the sanest.'_ one glance at Terry told him that he was having second thoughts about the last bit of the statement.

'Peeves,' Dean answered automatically, 'the stupid creature was throwing chalks at me,' spotting a golden chance and taking it, Dean added, 'what are _you_ doing up at this hour, anyway?'

'Homework,' Dean's eyes shot up in surprise as Hermione said it, 'Snape gave us extra work in potions and we have to hand it in tomorrow. We finished just now and we were just talking about how hard life at Hogwarts is,' Hermione explained.

Although the excuse was really stupid, Dean was surprised at the conviction Hermione has said the statement in; it sounded as if she believed it herself. He laughed, 'your excuse is even worse than mine,' he told her, 'anyway, I'm going to bed now.' he went as fast as he could without looking too desperate to get away.

He knew that they were going to get suspicious, but who cared? He pulled his cloths off so that he was only left with his boxers on, climbed into bed and pulled the covers up to his chin, even though he knew that he was going to get no sleep today. He was still angry at Dumbledore for not wanting to tell him anything, but if he didn't, then Dean was going to make sure that he will find everything out by himself. Tomorrow, he was going to make one of the trio tell him. It didn't matter which one; he was not scared of any of them…



As soon as Dean left the room, Terry and Josh exchanged suspicious looks with each other, 'what's wrong with that bloke?' Josh asked.

Terry shrugged, 'just another messed up idiot?' he suggested.

'Look, I don't really care about him,' Hermione interrupted, 'I have to tell Shigamo what happened. Maybe he'll want to talk to one of you.'

Forgetting all about Dean, Terry raised his eyebrows, 'what? Now?'

Hermione sighed, 'it's different, the times here and in Japan, it's probably noon in there; I can't really remember the time difference.'

'Oh,' Terry felt stupid, 'OK.'

Hermione held the mirror up. Terry could only see her reflection, 'Shigamo,' she said clearly. Nothing changed immediately, but a few seconds later, Hermione's reflection started to fade away, to be replaced with the face of an Asian man who looked to be in his late thirties; he had, unsurprisingly, brown eyes. His face was cleanly shaved, along with the rest of his head.

When he saw Hermione, he suddenly broke into a large grin, 'Hermione!' he said happily. He said something in Japanese and, to Terry's surprise, Hermione answered him in the same language. He looked surprised at what Hermione had said and said something back. This time, Hermione started talking rapidly in fluent Japanese with a perfect accent, without stopping for a second; Shigamo was listening intently with a serious expression, nodding patiently.

They continued talking like that for some time while Terry watched, fascinated. Shigamo said something, and both he and Hermione suddenly looked at Terry and Josh, 'so you are the Potters?' Shigamo asked them warmly in a strong accented English. Terry and Josh both nodded, unable to think of anything else to do.

'Hermione probably told you that you are in danger now that Dumbledore knows who you are?' it was a question rather than a statement. Terry and Josh both nodded again. 'I hope that she explained everything,' Shigamo said, 'I think that it would be wise if you stay at my house in the Christmas holidays rather than at the orphanage; I'm sorry to have to tell you that on our first conversation with each other, but Dumbledore might have already set up an accident at the orphanage, ready for when you get back.'

'Don't worry, we're not getting back to the orphanage anytime soon,' Josh said.

Terry looked at him in surprise, _'do you trust him?' _he asked Josh in their newly found way of communication.

'_Trust him?'_ Josh sounded incredulous, _'no way! I only said that because I know that he hasn't got the power to send us back to the orphanage and we have the perfect excuse not to go to his house.'_

'Really?' Shigamo looked surprised, 'where are you going to stay?'

That was a tricky question. Terry was bewildered for a few seconds, until he was suddenly hit with a new brainwave, 'we are staying at our dad's old friend, Lupine,' he said, congratulating himself silently until Shigamo spoke again.

'Mmm…' Shigamo said, 'I see that what Hermione told you was not enough to make you trust me as I know for a fact that you are not staying at Lupine's place.'

Terry was so bewildered that he could not think of anything to say, but, fortunately, Josh spoke for him, 'oh? And how did you know that?'

Shigamo smiled grimly, 'I only know one Lupine who was a friend of your father's, and he is working for me. I think that it was just mere coincidence that he was going to stay at my place during the holidays as well.'

'Fine,' Josh said, 'so we don't trust you; is that unnatural?'

'Oh, no,' Shigamo answered, 'it is _very_ natural. In fact, I am very glad you decided not to trust me; it means that you can probably take care of yourselves.'

'You have no idea,' Terry muttered under his breath.

Shigamo seemed to hear him, but all he said was, 'as I said, it is good that you do not trust someone you do not know, but I can give you proof that everything Hermione told you was true because it is necessary that you trust me if I am to help you.'

He walked over to a large cabinet in the corner of the room he was in and opened the door. Inside was what Terry clearly identified as a pensive, a large cauldron where you can keep your memories, 'I asked some wizards to put some of my memories inside,' Shigamo explained, 'I always show this to new agents, because they never believe what I tell them about Dumbledore. I don't know if you should see this, but I know that this is the only thing which can convince you that what I say is true.' He pulled something from his pocket and threw it into the pensive.

Immediately, the thick, silvery contents of the pensive started twirling, until they finally stopped and a scene was played out on the surface like a TV;

There was a huge, modern looking room, in which there were hundreds of people, all talking together in Japanese. Terry thought that he spotted Shigamo, who looked about twenty now and was talking to a short, plump Asian woman. The atmosphere seemed happy, with people chatting merrily.

The lights suddenly went out and silence fell in the room. Someone said something in Japanese and shuffling feet could be heard. Then a scream, which was followed by several more screams. There was suddenly a cold voice which spoke a word that Terry understood, _'lumos!'_

A small light immediately lit up at the center of the room and a very clear outline of Albus Dumbledore could be seen; he was wearing, strangely enough, a purple robe with golden stars on it and his face held an expression Terry has never seen on his face before: Madness. Sheer madness.

Everyone was looking at him in astonishment, unable to decide if it was some kind of a game. Dumbledore seemed amused as he held his wand high over his head, 'all you muggles should not deserve to live!' he shouted, 'you are contaminating our world!' he shouted the words of a spell Terry has never heard before.

A strong beam of blue light shot out of the wand in a large arc. Terry's eyes widened at what he saw next: the light looked as if it was alive; any person it touched immediately dropped onto the floor, and renewed screaming occurred as people scattered around, trying to get out of the way of the beam. The beam managed to catch most of the people, and only about ten people remained standing on their feet when it finally disappeared, staring around, wide eyed at the hundreds of bodies littering the floor. One of the people still standing was a woman, who was clutching a baby. She shouted something in Japanese.

Terry turned around as he heard a sob behind him. It was Hermione; it must have been hard for her watching it for the second time. Without thinking twice about what he was doing, he reached towards her and took her hand in his, squeezing it reassuringly. Hermione did not even look up at him, so he just looked back at the pensive in the mirror:

He probably missed something, because there was now no one left standing on their feet in the place, only a vast number of unmoving people on the floor, one on top of the other. Terry felt sick; Dumbledore had a huge grin plastered on his face as he returned the wand back inside his robes and strolled out of the room with sure, steady steps. He did not even glance back. All this happened in only a few seconds and Terry was bewildered at Dumbledore's great power, only realizing then that Dumbledore could have easily killed them back in his office if he had wanted to.

Terry found himself staring at the cauldron in disbelief, trying to digest what he just saw by looking at the pile of the hundreds of bodies which littered the floor, when he suddenly spotted a small movement coming from the bottom of the pile. He did not even have to look to know that it was Shigamo, who has probably been trapped under the pile of people and did not dare to move for the whole time as he was too scared to. He staggered a bit, looking around with wide eyes, when the contents of the pensive suddenly swirled again and the scene was replaced with the silvery stuff which was there originally.

Josh gave out a long breath of air. Hermione was still sobbing, now with her head on Terry's shoulder, 'that woman…' she sobbed, 'she said…she said…don't kill my baby…'

Terry gave an involuntary shudder as he heard this. Shigamo's face suddenly reappeared in the mirror and Terry was staring at him, wide-eyed; he did not seem affected by the scene in the cauldron- he probably watched it hundreds of times, but he did seem affected by Hermione's reaction; he said something, softly, looking as if he wanted to get out of the mirror and hug her.

Terry motioned to Josh that they should leave and they both started heading towards the boys' dormitories. They undressed and got into bed without saying another word, but as Terry pulled his covers up, he heard Josh say, 'I don't know about you, but I believe her now.'

'Me too,' Terry said, 'he could never have faked anything like it: it's impossible to enter fake or modified memories into a pensive.'

'I don't think we should talk about it now,' Josh warned, 'Dean might still be awake.'

'Oh, Ok,' Terry knew that Josh was right, 'goodnight, then.'

'Yeah, goodnight.'

* * *

This is the longest chapter I've done so far!!! OK, I know that it wasn't _that_ great, but I seriously like the next one. 


	8. Chapter 8

Mmmm... I don't really have anything to say, which is probably good I guess, because I normally talk too much...

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* * *

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**Chapter 8:**

The bed somehow seemed harder than usual today. Terry rolled over to his other side to try to get a more comfortable position, but it did not work either. He did get some hours of sleep, but, for some reason, he woke up too early. Frustrated, he jumped out of his bed, glancing at his watch and was surprised to see that it was already 5:00 a.m. It seemed too dark outside to be this hour. Winter was approaching faster than Terry has anticipated.

He rubbed his eyes and started heading towards the bathroom. Once inside, he brushed his teeth and took a long, hot shower. He then put some clean clothes on and, since he had nothing else to do, headed down to the great hall.

It was the first time he has been there so early and was surprised at the eerie silence. It was completely empty, apart from one seat which was occupied by Hermione in the Gryffindor table.

She looked up as he sat down beside her, yawning loudly, 'nice hairstyle,' he commented, 'what's the occasion?'

What she did to her hair was not exactly a big deal; it was pulled back tightly in a high ponytail, but it made her look a lot better than she normally did when her hair was falling all over her face. It somehow made her look more athletic and…tougher, for some reason.

'No occasion,' Hermione replied, 'I'm just tired of my hair getting into my face all the time, so I just decided to do something about it. Why are you up so early?'

- 'Couldn't sleep. You?'

She let out a short laugh, 'I always get up this early, to learn all the stuff for the day's lessons,' she explained, 'Hey, did you decide if you're going to come to my house in the Christmas holidays?' She suddenly asked.

'I don't really mind,' Terry answered, 'I think Josh wouldn't mind, either, but we didn't get a chance to talk about it though, because we thought that Dean was listening.'

- 'Oh.'

'Heeey, good morning, everyone, it's a lovely day, isn't it?' Terry and Hermione both turned around to see Josh heading towards the Gryffindor table with a huge grin plastered on his face, 'nice hairstyle,' he added to Hermione, taking a seat on her other side.

'What are you doing up so early in the morning?' Terry asked him.

'Same as you- couldn't sleep. I had a good time listening to you turning around in your bed, but I was too lazy to get up when you did. I did, eventually, get up, because I thought that it would be a good time to do some training.' Josh answered.

'Training?' Hermione asked, quizzical.

'Oh, yeah, I forgot that you don't know. We do training every day,' Josh explained.

'Really?' Hermione looked surprised, 'what do you train in?'

'You know,' Josh answered, 'fighting.'

'Yeah, I figured it out myself,' Hermione said dryly, 'I mean what _kind_ of fighting?' When both Terry and Josh looked blank, Hermione sighed, 'I mean, kung fu? Judo?'

'Oh,' Josh grinned, 'street fighting, only not the way everyone is used to. We kinda have some moves of our own'

Hermione snorted into her pumpkin juice, 'oh,' she said, laughing. Terry had no idea what she found so funny, but then, her face suddenly lit up, 'hey, you want me to join you? I already know all of the school books off by heart, so there's no point of me repeating them again and again and I don't have anything better to do.'

'No,' Josh said quickly, 'we don't wanna kill you.'

Hermione snorted again, 'I think it's me who should have been saying that,' she laughed, 'I'm black belt in karate, and I won seven competitions out of seven already. Shigamo is also teaching me some more forms of mixed kinds of martial arts.'

Josh and Terry looked at each other, surprised, 'oh, you never mentioned that before,' Josh said.

Looking bemused, Hermione answered, 'du-uh, no one's supposed to know about me around here, you're so thick.'

'OK,' Terry said, 'you can join us, but I wanna test you first. Let's go find an empty classroom.'

'Hey, I didn't even start eating,' Josh complained.

'Your problem,' Terry answered mischievously, 'we already finished.'

They went looking for an empty classroom and eventually entered room 37, which was on the first floor.

'So…' Hermione started, 'how do you usually start?'

'well, we just fight each other as if it's a real fight. That's the best way, but we usually end up with broken bones and stuff. Then we heal it with our wands.' Terry explained.

'Sounds barbaric, but good enough for me,' Hermione grinned, 'there's only one problem: you don't have your wands and I don't know how to heal.'

'Then we can just practice wandless healing,' Josh shrugged, 'Renaldo did it yesterday, so I guess I can do it, too.'

- 'Why do you keep calling each other these names?'

'Maybe we'll tell you later,' Terry replied, 'anyway, I want to test you first. Are you ready?'

Hermione seemed amused, 'sure.'

They both faced each other in a fighting stance while Josh was leaning against the wall with his arms folded over his chest, watching.

Terry had no idea what to do because he never fought girls before, so he waited for her to start. She did. It was a very short fight afterwards; Terry saw a blur of black robes and the next thing he knew, there was a tug on his arm and he was lying on his back on the floor, staring at Hermione unbelievably.

'Shame on you, brother,' Josh said, grinning, 'you let a girl beat you.'

Hermione seemed annoyed as she turned around, facing Josh, 'do you want to have a go yourself?'

Before Josh could answer, Terry said quickly, 'no, I want to have a go with him. It'll be your turn after that.' Hermione raised her eyebrows at him questioningly, but Terry just shook his head, 'I just want you to see what's it like with the two of us.'

Shrugging, Josh stopped leaning on the wall and stood up straighter, 'sure,' he said, 'only as long as you don't kick my ass,' he added mockingly.

This fight was a lot longer than the previous one. It ended with a burst lip and a few broken ribs on Terry's side, while Josh had a black eye, broken nose, and also a few broken ribs, which they always got during fights like those. It was Terry who won in the end, having Josh pinned down in a headlock.

'Shame on you, Josh' Hermione laughed, 'you let a boy who got beaten by a girl beat you.'

Josh glared at her, 'it's your turn now,' he said, trying to protect his broken male pride by looking confident, 'let's see if you're so clever.'

They started the fight after Josh mended his wounds wandlessly for the first time, which, like Terry, was not very hard for him. It was the first time Terry had watched such a good fight between Josh and someone else; they were both good, even though they had a different way of fighting. It looked like something out of a Jacky Chan movie, only Josh was pulling the stupid stunts Jacky would have pulled, while Hermione looked more professional. It was Josh who won in the end, pinning her down, 'shame on you, Hermione, you let a boy who was beaten by a boy who was beaten by a girl beat you,' he said.

'Whatever,' Hermione groaned, twisting a little, 'can you _please _let go of me?'

'Sure,' Josh released her hands and mock bowed to her.

Hermione smiled at him, 'you are good,' she said, but before Josh had a chance to feel proud, she added, 'for a brainless idiot.'

Josh gritted his teeth while Terry squared up for another fight with Hermione, trying to hide his amused look. She won again, even though this fight was a lot longer than their last one because Terry was ready for her. Josh wanted to have another go with Terry, but Terry was exhausted and suggested that they went to the great hall again, so that by the time they reached the place, it was already 8:30, and it was packed with people eating and chatting.

They all tucked into their food, even though Terry and Hermione have already eaten breakfast. Josh looked ravenous as he ate at marathon speed and gulped down a whole glass of pumpkin juice in less than a second, pouring some down his robes and attracting lots of disgusted looks from fellow Gryffindors.

Josh started to cough wildly as he gulped too much pumpkin juice and Terry, grinning widely, hit him on the back stronger than necessary, making him cough even harder. Hermione frowned at Terry, but said nothing.

Their first lesson was a flying lesson. It was the first one after the one which has been cancelled and Terry noticed Hermione looking nervous. 'Hey, what's up?' he asked her, 'don't tell me you're also scared of flying a broom.'

'To tell you the truth,' Hermione said, 'I am. I mean, we're _humans_. Humans are not supposed to fly, they're supposed to stay on the ground, I mean, that's why we've got legs and not _wings_. I mean…' She trailed off as she did not know how to express what she felt.

Josh looked amused, 'I think I know what your problem is,' he told her, 'you're scared of heights.'

'I'm not!' Hermione said quickly, but it was too late for her because Josh has already picked the fear in her voice and started teasing her for the rest of the way to the grounds. Terry practically had to put his hands to his ears to block out their bickering.

When they got to the place where the lesson was supposed to take place, they saw Madame Hooch standing near a pile of old brooms. 'OK, everyone, gather round here,' she shouted to the group of people approaching. Everyone gathered around in a circle. 'Good,' Madame Hooch said, 'now, I decided to change the way I run my lesson. People who think that they can fly a broom, go and stand over there. The rest of you stay here.'

Everyone looked at each other to see who would go. Only four people went: Terry, Josh, Malfoy and Dean. Malfoy looked a bit bewildered at being the only Slytherin amongst the Gryffindors, especially because Terry and Josh were there. Josh kept grinning at Malfoy, but Malfoy kept it cool, with his usual sneering self.

'Right!' Madame Hooch shouted, shoving a broom at each of the boys' hands, 'everyone, I want you to look carefully at this demonstration. When I blow my whistle, kick off from the ground and do four rounds around the grounds. If you feel that you cannot go on, you can land your broom down here. On my whistle.'

She sounded her whistle and they all kicked off from the ground. At the beginning, everyone started flying normally. Terry was surprised to see that both Dean and Malfoy were better than he anticipated.

He felt the rush of excitement he always got when he was on a broom and, forgetting that Malfoy was his enemy, suggested that they all take a race. 'Up to that tree, over there,' he pointed at a faraway tree. The three other boys agreed instantly and they all started speeding towards the tree. In the end, it became a race only between Terry and Josh because Malfoy and Dean were much too slow for them, although Dean was a lot faster than Malfoy. Terry looked at Josh, who was a few meters ahead of him, and urged his battered old broom to go faster. In a few seconds, he was level with Josh. In a few more seconds, he was ahead of Josh. He almost reached the destination when Josh went zooming past him, laughing loudly and winning in half a millisecond. They laughed a bit, shoving each other in the air, until Dean and Malfoy arrived, neither saying anything. Terry had no idea what Dean's problem was. Sure, Malfoy acted like that because he was their enemy, but why was Dean looking at them with such a weird expression on his face?

All four boys started heading back towards where the group of students were waiting. 'That was very good,' Madame Hooch said, 'all of you. Only, Malfoy, the way you were holding your broom was wrong.' She showed Malfoy the way to hold a broom while demonstrating to the rest of the class. Malfoy seemed irritated, but said nothing.

It turned out that the pile of brooms on the floor was for beginners, which did not go higher than ten feet in the air. Madame Hooch said that the four boys could fly well enough and gave them a ball to do whatever they wanted during the lesson while she taught the rest of the students.

Terry, Josh, Dean and Malfoy headed off with the ball. Dean and Malfoy avoided everyone else's gaze and Terry was starting to get irritated with their behavior.

Josh, apparently, was also feeling the pressure of the silence as he spoke next. 'So…up to a game of ball?' he asked.

'Yeah! That's a great idea,' Terry answered energetically, expecting a reaction from Dean and Malfoy. They only shrugged. Terry looked at Josh, who was looking back at him. They both shrugged as well, having nothing else to do, mounted their brooms and kicked off from the ground.

Dean and Malfoy followed them and the four boys found themselves floating in the air, looking at each other silently. Josh, who was holding the ball, suddenly shouted, 'hey, Terry, think fast!' he threw the ball hard in the direction opposite from Terry. Dean and Malfoy looked confused, but Terry quickly zoomed towards the ball and caught it quickly in both hands, grinning triumphantly. 'Hey, that was a good one!' Josh shouted, 'try me now!'

'OK!' Terry shouted back, throwing the ball as far away from Josh as he could. Josh went zooming past him and caught the ball easily in one hand.

'Is that the best you got?' he asked, laughing freely. They continued throwing the ball to each other, noticing, but not caring, that Dean and Malfoy landed their brooms and started sulking in different corners.

About an hour later, after the lesson has finished and everyone has already gone apart from them, Madame Hooch called them down. As soon as they landed, they were shocked as she crushed both of them in one huge hug, 'you two are amazing! I've never seen anyone fly better than that at Hogwarts, not even Charlie Weasley, who could have made it into the English quiditch team,' she said excitedly, 'both of you, come with me. We're going to see professor Mcgonagal.'

Terry and Josh looked at each other in confusion. They had no idea why she wanted them to see professor Mcgonagal, but it definitely looked good. They started following her towards the castle quietly, not wanting to ask any questions in case they ruined her mood and she decided to send them to their next lesson, which happened to be potions.

As soon as they got to Mcgonagal's office, Mcgonagal looked murderous as she caught sight of the two boys, 'what have they done now?' she asked tiredly.

'What have they done?' Madame Hooch said excitedly, '_What have they done? _They have just broken the record for the best eleven year olds to fly on a broom! I'm telling you, professor, these two boys are naturals! They have to be on the quiditch team- we have two chasers missing from Gryffindor. I wanted to ask you to bend the rules just this once to let first years join the quiditch team.'

Mcgonagal looked shocked, 'I really don't know,' she said doubtfully, 'these boys like to cause nothing but trouble, they should not be given a prize for it. Surely, you can find some more suitable candidates for that role?'

Madame Hooch looked incredulous, 'more suitable candidates? I can assure you now that there are none!' she said, 'and I know what I'm saying! I've been teaching for twenty five years and I have _never_ seen anything like it!'

'I don't know,' Mcgonagal said again, 'maybe I should see them flying first,' she suggested.

'Are you doubting my professional career?' the answer came heatedly, 'I am not leaving this office till you give those two young _angels_ permission to enter the quiditch team. If you don't, then I will go straight to the headmaster's office to make sure _he_ gives them permission himself.'

Mcgonagal sighed, 'OK, fine,' she said, defeated, 'but take them to their lessons now. I cannot believe you think quiditch is more important than their future careers.'

Madame Hooch probably did not want Mcgonagal to change her mind because she strolled out of the office without another word.

Josh looked at Terry, eyebrows raised, 'err…are we supposed to follow her, or what?' he asked. Terry shrugged and they both went out of the door, hurrying to keep up with the overexcited creature. When they got to the door of their potions class, she told them to go inside.

'What?' Terry asked, alarmed, 'but you're supposed to tell Snape why we're late.'

Madame Hooch smiled, 'I know,' she said, 'I just heard that he is sometimes a bit… nasty…to Gryffindors, so I want to catch him red handed.'

Terry and Josh grinned at her, both thinking the same thing: they could never have gotten a cooler teacher. They both entered the classroom confidently. Snape's head snapped up as they entered and he stopped talking very suddenly, his face contorting into his usual sneer.

'So…' he started as they entered, addressing the whole class, 'as you can see, Mr. White and Mr. Locke here decided that they have much more important things to do than attending my lesson. Twenty points from Gryffindor each. Now, as you both probably think that your standards are much higher than this class, I will ask you a question of fifth year standard. If you answer wrong, fifty points will be taken away from Gryffindor _and _you will receive a whole week's detention. If you answer right, only twenty points will be taken from Gryffindor and you will not receive any further punishment. What is Gilloy's Drake and what are its main components?'

Terry grinned, 'Gilloy's Drake is a love potion, used to stimulate love not necessarily between a male and a female; it can also be used to make someone like a particular subject, or food,' he said. 'it's main ingredients are…' he recited all of its ingredients in alphabetical order.

'Fifty points from Gryffindor! Detention!' Snape declared.

'What?!?!! But I answered the question right!!!' Terry said, sounding as shocked as possible to make sure Madame Hooch could hear it.

'No, you did not,' Snape sneered, 'I asked for the main ingredients, not _all_ of the ingredients.'

Madame Hooch decided to interfere at that moment, probably having heard enough, 'I think that would be a cause to give them more house points,' she said, 'and you did not hear the reason why they are late, so forty points will be returned to Gryffindor, because they have a very good reason, don't you, boys?' Terry and Josh nodded innocently, 'they are going to be the new chasers on the Gryffindor quiditch team, because they were doing enormously well in their flying lesson, so we're bending the first year rule just for them. Don't you think it's appropriate, professor?' she asked.

Snape looked ready to blow, but said nothing.

'What's more,' Madame Hooch continued, 'I don't think I awarded them points for their _excellent_ work. Fifty points for each of you. Well done boys! I'll see you after this lesson in the quiditch pitch with the Gryffindor captain, Oliver Wood,' she said. Then she turned on her heels and went out of the classroom, waving at the class.

Snape's nostrils flared angrily, 'fine!' he said, 'but you still have detention for a week!'

'Oh, but professor,' Terry looked around in surprise as Hermione spoke in her sweetest voice from her seat which was, unsurprisingly, at the front of the classroom, 'I don't think they deserve it. After all, Terry just showed you how interested he was in your subject.'

This time, Snape's face turned deep purple as he tried to control his rage, 'fine!' he said, probably regretting the moment he told her that he was working for Shigamo. If he hadn't, she would not have been able to use him like that, 'fine!' he said again, trying to control himself, 'you can both take your seats.'

Grinning like mad, Terry went over to sit next to Hermione, while Josh sat on his other side, because Lavender Brown was sitting at Hermione's other side. The rest of the lesson went on pleasantly, with Snape stubbornly refusing to meet either of the trio's eyes.



'Can you remind me again why I have to come with you? I told you already, I hate quiditch!' the trio were heading towards the quiditch pitch after Terry and Josh practically begged Hermione to come with them. Hermione had no idea why they wanted her to come with them, but she secretly enjoyed the attention; she never had friends before and was wondering whether Terry and Josh counted her as a friend. She did not think it mattered, anyway, because she enjoyed being in their company nonetheless.

'Come on, Hermione, don't be such a moron,' Josh replied, 'it's just gonna take a few minutes. You can sit on the grass and read a book in the meantime. Now, you can't say no to that… I know that you want it.'

Hermione sighed, 'fine, fine, like I have any other choice,' she muttered, 'oh, and, by the way, I don't think that it's such a good idea to bring the brooms with you.'

'Why not?' Josh asked, looking at his nimbus two thousand, 'I can't stand the school brooms, they keep turning too much to the left and they start vibrating if they go too high…'

'No,' Hermione said, exasperated, 'that's not what I meant. I mean, brooms are not allowed for first years. Madame Hooch is going to know that you already had these brooms before you were given permission to get one.'

'Are you kidding me?' Terry said, speaking for the first time, 'that teacher is totally in love with us! I'm telling you, she likes us more than any other teacher likes you, which is saying something. How much do you want to bet that she doesn't say anything?'

- 'One cent. '

- 'No, that's too little, how about two?'

- 'Fine.'

They shook hands, then burst out laughing along with Josh. When they arrived at the pitch, Madame Hooch was already there with a tall, athletic looking boy, who was probably Oliver Wood, the Gryffindor quiditch team captain. He did not look extremely happy as he saw them.

'Are these the chasers you promised me?' he asked Madame Hooch, 'they are going to be down before the first five first minutes of the game. I mean, look at them! They are so _tiny_. They could get blown away by the wind.'

Madame Hooch looked angry, 'oh, you think so?' she asked, 'then I challenge you for a match against only _one_ of them, not two. I guaranty you that you have no chance of beating either of them. Are you up for it, boys?' she asked, looking at Terry and Josh protectively.

Terry jumped up before Josh had a chance to say anything, 'of course I am! I wanna try first!' Hermione was not as sure as him that he could win against a much older, more experienced person, but she did not want to ruin his confidence, so she said nothing.

'Ok,' Madame Hooch said without asking Wood if he accepted the challenge, 'the first one to score ten times through the hoops wins.'

Wood looked very reluctant, but he mounted his broom nonetheless, giving Terry the quaffle, 'you can start,' he told him.

Terry grinned, 'no,' he said, 'you have very small chances. I want to at least give you a headstart.'

Wood looked annoyed, but said nothing. He started flying with the ball towards the hoops, a bit uncertain as Terry was following without showing any signs of trying to get the ball from him. He threw it at one of the hoops uncomfortably, feeling stupid at having to play against a first year student, when Terry suddenly went zooming past him and caught the ball easily in one hand just before it went through the hoop, smiling mischievously.

From then on, the game went too fast for Hermione to notice anything. Terry was zooming around, toying with Wood. At one time, he scored from a very far position and Hermione found herself impressed at his skills. When the boys landed down, Terry has scored ten times while Wood scored nothing. Just the amazed look on Wood's face was worth it for Hermione to go there, but the look quickly disappeared and he smiled warmly at Terry, extending his hand;

'Congratulations!' he said, 'you have just entered yourself into the Gryffindor quiditch team. I think with you here there is no chance we're gonna lose, even if we have the worst seeker on earth!' He certainly seemed to mean what he said and Hermione thought that he looked as if he wanted to kiss Terry happily. 'I'm telling you, we're gonna win this year. We haven't won a single game ever since Charlie left, but you are going to make the difference!'

'Hey, what about me?' Josh said, 'I'm much better than him.'

Wood looked doubtful, but agreed to test him after a nudge from Madame Hooch. Josh was as good as Terry, only his match took much longer than the former one because he was showing off too much. When they finally landed, Josh having won ten-nil, Wood seemed just as happy with Josh as he was with Terry. He told the boys when their practice time was supposed to be and they all started heading back to the Gryffindor tower, chatting about boys' stuff.

Hermione followed uncertainly, but she suddenly realized that the boys completely forgot about her existence, so she sneaked off without them noticing, walking in the direction of the place she always went to when she had nothing else to do: the library.

She walked with her head down, thinking. She always did that, and it was her second favorite thing to do after reading. Thinking made her more relaxed, plus, it had the advantage of giving her new points of views for different things.

'Hey! Hermione!' Hermione turned around, surprised. No one ever talked to her in this school and it was highly unusual for someone to call her name, unless it was a teacher doing the register. She stopped in her trucks, turning around to see who was calling her. It was Dean. She had to fight very hard to keep the surprise from her face; she noticed that Dean has been acting a bit weird lately, and she also knew that she wasn't exactly on his list of favorite people, so she wondered what it was that he wanted from her.

'Erm… I just wanted to apologize,' he said, 'you know, for yesterday. The way I came storming in like that. I didn't realize anyone was there.'

'Oh?' Hermione said, unable to guess what he _really_ wanted, 'that's OK, I didn't think about it at all.' she started walking towards the library again, but was surprised again as Dean fell into step beside her.

'So… why did you _really_ stay up yesterday so late?' Dean asked casually.

Hermione wondered why Dean wanted to know that, but just answered coolly, 'why did _you_ stay up so late yesterday? You were outside, we were in the common room. Being in the common room is not against the law.'

'You weren't in the common room,' Dean informed her, 'you were in Dumbledore's office.'

Hermione stopped walking, surprised, 'how did you know that?' she asked.

Dean stopped as well, 'that's none of your business,' he answered, his face a calm mask, 'but I want to know what's going on between you and Dumbledore. And the Potters,' he added as an afterthought.

'How the hell…' Hermione started, then caught herself as she realized that Dean was not at all what he seemed to be. He was, like her, an actor. And he seemed to know more about her than she felt comfortable with 'what do you want?' she asked suspiciously. She had no idea how he knew that Terry and Josh were the Potter brothers. He could not have listened to their conversation last night because Hermione has placed a silencing charm around them without the Potters noticing after Dean left.

Dean was quite for a moment. Then he took his wand out and pointed it at a more than surprised Hermione, 'I want you to tell me what's going on,' he said calmly, 'and don't think that I'm joking. I know some really good spells, which, hopefully, I will not need to use.'

Hermione was, of course, more than surprised at Dean's reaction, but she was far from scared of him, 'you do realize,' she said, 'that you are going to get stuck in detention for the rest of your life when Dumbledore finds out that you threatened me with a wand?'

'Not if I put a memory charm on you,' Dean answered calmly.

'You can't do a memory charm,' Hermione objected, 'they are too complicated.'

'Oh, yeah?' Dean smirked, 'watch me.' he backed her up against the wall, holding her arms on either side of her head.

OK, now he was starting to get on her nerves. What did he want to know those things for, anyway? Hermione looked him up and down, twisting her arms a little to test his strength. Then she just shrugged and kicked him with her knee, hard, in the place where boys _really_ don't like to be kicked. She would not have normally done something like that, but she could not let Dean do whatever he wanted to her only because Shigamo told her not to attract too much attention to herself. There was a limit as to how far to push your act.

'URGHH, you bitch!' he yelled, letting go of her and clutching his wounded male area with both hands, groaning in pain. Hermione smiled at him sweetly. He glared at her for a few seconds, his face twisted in pain, then he punched her as hard as he could on the face.

Expecting this, Hermione blocked it, but it was thrown with such force that her hand actually hurt. 'So you want to play, huh?' Dean hissed, although he did look a bit surprised as Hermione blocked him.

Hermione could have just taken her opportunity and ran away towards the library at that moment, but she was really pissed off with Dean and she wanted to teach him a lesson. Her hand still hurt from blocking his punch, which was thrown with surprising force. She punched him in the face. He blocked, so she quickly aimed a flying kick at his head.

He spun around, trying to dodge the kick, when he suddenly let out a cry of pain. Hermione stopped, surprised, until she saw the blood rushing out of his arm. He has cut his arm on a nail which was sticking out of the wall, and it looked a lot worse than the cut Josh had on his back the previous day. Dean seemed to be biting his tongue to stop himself from screaming in pain; he held the wound in one hand and went into the nearest classroom as fast as he could. Hermione hesitated, but then decided to follow him inside to help him out.

Dean had his back to her as he removed his cloak. He then took his shirt off with difficulty and used it to wrap it tightly around his arm, to stop the blood flow. He somehow managed to tie the ends of the shirt with only one hand.

Hermione went forward hesitantly, 'Dean, look, I'm really sorry, do you want me to come with you to the hospital wing?' she asked, trying to sound calm. He turned around slowly, looking at her.

She hardly managed to hold back a gasp as he turned around; he was looking at her with a murderous expression and she could not help but notice the muscles he had on his chest. 'You are so predictable,' he growled, 'I knew you would come after me.'

And before she knew it, he punched her with his undamaged arm. Hermione felt anger build up inside her, but before she could do anything, she saw a blur as Dean moved quickly, kicking her hard in the kidney. She doubled over in pain, gasping. He punched her again and, this time, she fell to the floor, vaguely noting to herself, too late, that he was trained.

He quickly got on top of her, sitting on her back and twisting her arms back in a painful angle, 'where did you learn to fight like that?' he asked her casually, as if it was a day to day conversation.

'Dean, what are you doing?' Hermione asked, 'let go of me!'

Dean got his wand out of his pants' back pocket, but, instead of pointing it at Hermione, he pointed it at the door, making it show whoever was walking outside so that he could get a warning. He then pulled Hermione roughly to her feet, 'stop struggling, you idiot,' he told her as she was trying to get out of his grip in vain. He was too strong for her.

He slammed her up against the wall and tied her hands tightly behind her back with the ropes he has just summoned. He spun her around to face him. 'why are you doing this, Dean?' Hermione asked.

'Why I'm doing this?' Dean repeated the question, face blank, 'I need to know what's going on between you and my father. The stupid old git wouldn't tell me anything.'

'I don't even know who your father is,' Hermione said.

- 'Dumbledore.'

- 'What?'

- 'Dumbledore's my father.'

Hermione was going to say something, but Dean quickly clamped a hand tightly over her mouth, listening intently. Hermione has heard it too; there were quick footsteps approaching them. 'Damn,' Dean muttered and, to Hermione's fury, dumped a piece of cloth which he produced from his back pocket into her mouth and tied a gag tightly over it. He then walked towards the door to see who was walking outside using the spell he cast earlier. Hermione craned her neck slightly to see who it was and was surprised to see Josh without his brother for the first time ever (not counting the time when Terry woke up earlier than Josh).

Josh stopped directly in front of the door and tried to open it. It was locked. Hermione realized that Dean must have locked it with his wand at the same time as she remembered that Josh did not have his wand, so was not able to open the door. To her surprise, however, Josh placed a hand over the lock and closed his eyes tightly. When he opened them again, he turned the handle and the door swung open.

Before Josh had a chance to look around the room, Dean came up from behind him and clutched his head tightly with his uninjured arm, banging it, hard, against a glass cabinet which happened to be near the door. The glass shuttered and bits of glass flew around, cluttering on the floor. Dean raised Josh's head and Hermione felt sick as she saw his face; it was completely covered with blood and his eyes were shut tightly to try to prevent glass from cutting into them. Dean moved his leg, making Josh trip down on the floor using the most basic judo move. He then crouched down next to him, banging his head repeatedly on the floor.

Before Hermione knew it, she stomped forward angrily and kicked Dean on the face as hard as she could. Dean stumbled back, surprised at the unexpected attack, just as the door swung open for the second time and Terry came storming in, shouting 'who the hell did that?' before he even opened the door. Hermione did not have time to wonder how Terry knew what was going on before he even opened the door because she was still too busy kicking Dean, who was trying to get up from the floor, but fell down every time before he even had a chance to get up as Hermione kicked him again and again.

She suddenly stopped as she realized that Josh, whose face was still covered with blood, and Terry were both staring at her with open mouths. Only then did she realize how strange it must have looked: both of her hands were tied up behind her back and she was gagged, but she was still kicking a boy, who was twitching painfully on the ground.

'Why did you stop, Hermione?' Josh asked her as she looked up, looking at Dean with hate, 'you can carry on. Just pretend that we're not here,' he advised.

Hermione made some angry noises through her gag and Terry went forwards to remove it. Without saying thanks, Hermione turned to Josh. 'Your Face!' she gasped.

'What about it?' Josh asked, either confused or feigning confusion.

'It's bleeding like mad!' Hermione informed him.

Josh put one hand to his face and looked at it as it was now covered in blood. Then he shrugged, 'yeah, it tends to happen if you decide to use it to break a glass.'

'That's not funny, Josh,' Hermione said, concerned, 'why didn't you heal it?'

'I don't think that'll be a very good idea,' Terry objected, 'the wounds can seal over the glass and I don't think it's very healthy if you have glass inside you body.'

'Oh. Then, what are we gonna do?' Hermione asked.

'You keep an eye on the idiot. I'll take Josh to the hospital wing,' Terry decided, 'you can tell us what's going on later. We'll be back as soon as possible'

'Hey, I'm not going anywhere near that place,' Josh rejected the idea immediately.

'No one asked for your opinion, brother,' Terry said firmly, 'you are coming with me even if I have to drag you there.'

Hermione looked at Dean, suddenly feeling scared at staying alone with him, 'he's trained,' she told Terry, 'he wanted to know something about us and Dumbledore.'

Terry also looked at Dean and realized for the first time that he was not wearing a shirt. He walked over to him, crouching down and holding his chin tightly in one hand. 'He doesn't look in any condition to hurt you,' he told Hermione, still staring at Dean's unfocussed hazel eyes, 'but if you just want to make sure…' he stood up and stepped hard on one of Dean's legs. A sickening cracking sound could be heard, but Dean did not make a sound. The only indication of any pain he was feeling were his white lips. Terry then took Dean's wand from his back pocket and handed it to Hermione, 'here, I hope this will make you feel more comfortable. Me and Josh are going now, is that OK?' he asked.

'No,' Hermione answered, 'I need you to untie my hands first.'

Josh walked over and untied her hands impatiently. Terry seemed to notice the uncomfortable look on her face because he said, 'don't worry about Dean, we'll heal him as soon as we're back.'

Hermione nodded and the boys both left towards the hospital wing. As soon as they were gone, Hermione slumped herself down on the floor, sitting cross legged and trying to calm herself down, shutting her eyes and putting both of her hands on her lap. Then she started to think. First, she had no idea how Josh knew that she was in that room. Second, she had no idea how Terry knew that Josh was in trouble before he even opened the door. She decided to ask them about it once she got a good chance to. She did this kind of thing all the time, just sitting, with her eyes closed, looking at nothing and just thinking. It made her relax.

But she could not relax now. She was being watched. She opened her eyes slowly to find Dean's hazel eyes staring at her. For some reason, her heart missed a beat for a second.

'What's the matter, Granger?' Dean asked, 'you look scared.'

Hermione glared at him, 'I'm not scared of you,' she lied.

Dean shrugged, 'you still didn't tell me how you can fight like this,' he informed her.

'Ever heard of karate lessons?' Hermione asked, 'I'm a karate champion. But, hey, as much as I hate to admit it, you're better than me, which is _highly_ unusual. Where'd you learn to do that?'

'My father hires a private tutor to give me lessons every day,' Dean answered shortly. He seemed surprised at himself for having told her that.

'Dean _Thomas_, Albus _Dumbledore_.' Hermione said thoughtfully, 'how can he be your father if he has a different surname?'

Dean looked at her calmly, 'originally, I was supposed to wipe your memory off, which is why I told you what I did. Now that I'm not sure that I will be able to do that, what makes you think I'll tell you?' he asked.

Hermione looked at him thoughtfully, 'mmm… you do look a bit similar to Dumbledore. You even have the same expressions as him,' she said.

For some reason, Dean grimaced as she said this, but his look suddenly changed and he looked threatening, 'I didn't ask for your opinion, Granger,' he said, 'we wouldn't have even been having this little chat if your little idiotic friend didn't break my leg. You shouldn't be feeling so safe only because you have the Potters around you.'

Pursing her lips, she looked at him for a second, when an idea suddenly occurred to her. She started walking towards the other side of the room, behind him, where he could not see her.

'What are you doing?' Dean asked, alarmed. Having someone behind you while you were vulnerable was not exactly a very comfortable position.

- 'None of your business.'

She reached inside her robes, pulling her wand out and putting a silencing charm around her so that Dean could hear nothing . She then pulled the two way mirror from her robes and called Shigamo's name very clearly. It took a few minutes, but Shigamo's face suddenly appeared in the mirror, his eyes puffed up.

'Oh, sorry, I didn't realize you were sleeping. What time is it where you are?' Hermione asked in Japanese as soon as she saw him.

'It doesn't matter, doesn't matter,' Shigamo mumbled, 'what is it?'

Hermione told him everything that has just happened, not dropping away any single detail. By the time she finished, Shigamo looked wide awake and his eyes held a mixture of emotions; anger, disbelief and thoughtfulness. His anger was obviously directed at Dean, for what he did to her.

'So…' Hermione started, 'do you think he really is Dumbledore's son?'

'I'm not sure,' Shigamo answered, 'I'll say there is a chance of about eighty percent that he was telling the truth. About the Potters… I really fear for their safety. Try to find out if they are willing to stay here during the holidays.'

'Terry said that he didn't mind, but he has to consider it with Josh,' Hermione said.

Shigamo nodded, 'it's better than their last answer,' he commented, 'anyway, do you mind if I go back to sleep now? I don't think that there is much I can do from where I am now.'

'Sure,' Hermione answered ironically, 'get the rest you need. I have to stay here with a semi-lunatic.'

Smiling and shaking his head, Shigamo said, 'that's my Hermione, always complaining. You know, I think I spoilt you too much.'

'Whatever,' Hermione answered, 'bye.' She put the mirror back into her robes and broke the silencing charm, leaving both her and Dean's wands behind and moving once again to stand in front of Dean with a smile on her face, the same smile she always had on after she talked to Shigamo. Somehow, talking to him gave her more confidence and she felt much less scared than before.

'What are you smirking at?' Dean asked, looking alarmed at Hermione's sudden change in attitude, 'what did you do back there, anyway?'

'What's the matter?' Hermione asked, the smile never leaving her face. She took a few steps closer to him, 'you are not scared of me… are you?'

Dean snorted, 'why would I be?' he asked.

'Maybe because I was the one who rearranged your face to make it look the way it does now?' Hermione suggested. And she was not exaggerating; Dean had a busted nose, a black eye, and a few more purple patches on his face. She thought that he looked quite attractive, especially with his shirt off, but she was not in the least affected by it. She has seen lots of attractive guys in her life, and they were all idiots.

Dean reacted quickly; he could not get up with his broken leg, of course, but one of his hands and one of his legs were perfectly fine. He used one of his hands to yank both of her feet off the floor, swishing her off balance. He then used his healthy hand to hold both of her hands tightly behind her back and the injured hand to search inside her robes for his wand. All he found was the two way mirror, which he threw back over his shoulder, thinking that it was just a normal mirror and muttering something under his breath which sounded suspiciously like 'girls.'

Twisting in his grip angrily, Hermione shouted, 'you idiot! Let go of me! You can't do nothing, I left both our wands behind your back and Terry and Josh are back in a few minutes.'

'No,' Dean hissed in her ear, 'do you think I came to all this trouble for nothing? Do you think I'm bored?'

Hermione tried to free her hands, but Dean's grip was like steel. Her fear suddenly came back again, like an ice hand gripping at her heart. Dean was too strong for her. He could easily snap her neck right then, if he wanted to. A wave of tiredness suddenly swept over her and she felt like slumping back against his chest and letting him do whatever he wanted to do with her. But she could not do that. That's what Shigamo told her all the time, not to show any weakness.

'Look, Hermione,' Dean was trying to sound reasonable, 'I don't want to hurt you. Just tell me what you know and I'll let you go and everyone will be happy.'

'You don't want to hurt me, huh?' Hermione laughed ironically, 'you are the one who's hurt. Look at the state of you! You are not in a condition to make any threats.'

Dean twisted her thumb back and Hermione had to fight back a sudden gasp of pain. He leaned over so that his lips were just inches away from her ear, 'think back to what you said, because I think you got something wrong,' he whispered, 'I can make threats whenever I want to.'

'What makes you think I know anything?' Hermione snapped, 'I don't have any business with Dumbledore.'

As soon as the words left her mouth she let out a real gasp of pain as there was a sickening cracking sound from her thumb. 'One finger down, nine more to go,' Dean said casually.

Hermione gritted her teeth in pain. What was taking Terry and Josh so long? They should have been back about half an hour ago and, if Josh's condition was _that_ bad, Terry could have come back alone.

Dean was waiting for some kind of reaction from her. When she only stayed quite for about five minutes, he held her second finger in one hand, 'I'm gonna have lots of fun if you are going to go on like this,' he said lazily and smiled as he felt her body tense up against him.

Fortunately, Terry and Josh chose that moment to come back. When they spotted Hermione and Dean on the floor, they immediately started towards them, but Dean quickly held Hermione's head in a dangerous position. 'Stop!' he suddenly shouted, 'or I break her neck!'

He was serious. Hermione knew that he was serious. Shigamo has taught her that move once and she knew that her neck was more than likely to snap if she made the slightest movement. Terry and Josh, however, had no idea of the severity of the situation because they both did not look very concerned, even though they stopped and looked at Dean uncertainly.

'Hey, brother, what do you suggest we do to that psychopath?' Terry asked Josh casually.

'Oh, I have some ideas,' Josh replied. As soon as he said that, Dean's grip on Hermione loosened and Hermione turned around in surprise to see Dean floating in the air behind her. He floated like that for a few seconds, until he was suddenly flung back hard onto the table, collapsing onto the floor unconsciously.

Josh helped Hermione to her feet, 'are you OK?'

'OK?!?' Hermione screamed, 'THAT FUCKING SON OF A BITCH BROKE MY THUMB!' she exploded.

Her screaming probably woke Dean up after being unconscious only for a few seconds, because he suddenly stirred slightly on the floor, 'you deserved it, you bastard,' he croaked weakly.

Josh looked at him, incredulous, 'I can't believe he's not out yet. I don't mind finishing the job…'

'Not now,' Terry interrupted, turning to Hermione. He walked towards her and examined her thumb, concentrating on healing it. 'what did he want?' he asked when he finished.

'No,' Hermione said heatedly, 'you answer my question first! What the hell took you so long?'

Terry looked uncomfortable, 'well,' he started, twisting his thumbs together, 'Madame Pomfery kind of… insisted that I stay with Josh and I… I didn't know that he would attack you.'

'OK, whatever, apology accepted,' Hermione said, even though there was no apology, 'that bastard over there claimed that he was Dumbledore's son, but he still wanted me to tell him things about Dumbledore.' She explained.

'He's not Dumbledore's son, then,' Terry said.

'Oh?' Hermione said, 'why not?'

- 'Because if he was, Dumbledore would have already told him everything. Dumbledore's son would not go around trying to get information about his own father from strangers.'

'That's a good point,' Hermione mused, 'but what makes you think that Dumbledore would want to tell his son about the things he has done?'

'That's a good point as well,' Josh said dryly, 'but why don't we ask him instead of trying to guess?'

They all turned to look at Dean expectantly. Dean shrugged, 'I have no idea what you lot are talking about. Dumbledore never told me anything except that you three were dangerous and that Hermione was sly, so I thought you might know something. I mean, I needed to know. He wouldn't tell me anything.'

Hermione suddenly blanched. 'What did you say he said about me?'

Dean looked confused, 'he said that you were sly. Not that I agree with him; you are a total idiot.'

Ignoring the last statement, Hermione muttered, 'did he say anything else?'

Dean smirked weakly, 'why do you want to know? Is it important to you?'

Hermione turned to Terry (it was too hard talking to Josh without receiving any unnecessary comments), 'I think… what if he knows?'

Terry looked surprised, 'I can't see how he could know. Just think back to something you might have did or said which might have made him suspicious.'

'I… don't know,' Hermione answered uncertainly, 'I can't talk near _him_ anyway.'

'Fine,' Terry said, 'we could… Josh, what are you doing?'

Josh was sneaking his way towards Dean with an axe in one hand. He stopped short when he heard Terry's voice, 'I…err… nothing, nothing, I didn't mean to do anything.'

Hermione looked incredulous. 'What the hell are you doing? Where did you get that axe from, anyway?'

- 'I…'

- 'You better answer quickly.'

- 'Fine! I transformed your mirror into this axe. I found it on the floor, over there, but it was just for the fun of it! I didn't mean to do anything with it, honest!'

- 'Mmm… not even chop Dean's head of?'

- 'What? This thought never occurred to me! I mean, OK, maybe I wanted to use it to threaten to cut his head off, but not to really do it. I mean, why would I?'

- 'Maybe because he is the reason for the big scar you currently have on your chin?'

'What??' Josh suddenly yelped, 'I have a scar??' he started walking towards Dean with the axe again, 'I'm starting to have second thoughts about not chopping his head off.'

'Not that I have any objections,' Hermione said, 'but can I have my mirror back? Try to find something else to contaminate with his blood.'

Josh sighed, transforming the axe back into a mirror and handing it to Hermione, 'thanks anyway,' he told her, 'it was fun watching his face.'

Hermione turned to look at Dean, curios; his face has developed a very interesting color. It was, if possible, even whiter than Hermione's parents' teeth (they were dentists) but his lips were curled back in a sneer. 'you wouldn't have had the nerve to do it, anyway,' he told Josh.

'Yeah,' Josh answered, 'just like you wouldn't have snapped Hermione's neck.'

Hermione was not very sure that Dean was not capable of doing it. In fact, she was sure that she was going to die while Dean held her in that position. Just moving the wrong muscle in the wrong time could have meant her doom. She shuddered as she thought about it.

Terry turned to Hermione. 'Do you believe what Dean said?'

Hermione nodded. Dean did seem to tell the truth.

- 'Good. Because I think that we should let him go now.'

'LET HIM GO? Are you crazy??? He almost killed Hermione!' Josh shouted as soon as the words left Terry's mouth.

'Yes. And we should also heal him, so that he doesn't have to go to the hospital wing and answer questions. You see, I don't think he will tell anyone what happened, because it could get him into serious trouble and _I_ am not like Dumbledore, who doesn't even know what he wants from himself. We wouldn't get any information from Dean, anyway, so there's no point in keeping him,' he said calmly.

Josh still looked unhappy, but he said nothing because he knew that what Terry said was logical. Hermione also seemed to agree with what Terry has just said.

As soon as this was settled, Terry started heading towards Dean. 'No,' Dean said, 'you're not touching me!'

'Stop being such an idiot and at least thank me for wanting to heal you,' Terry snapped. He started with his face, which was the easiest place to begin, and made the dried blood vanish when he finished. Dean was looking at him with narrowed eyes, but now that he saw that Terry really did want to heal him, he did not struggle as Terry pulled the leg of his pants up, healing his broken leg. Terry then moved to his other leg and then got up to his feet when he was done.

'Don't think that I would have normally done that,' Terry told Dean sneeringly, 'I would have gladly broken the rest of the bones in your body. I just don't want you to have to explain to other people what happened. I don't feel like going to Dumbledore's office again and I know that you wouldn't tell anyone anyway, would you?'

Dean looked at Terry blankly for a second. He then stood up in a way which made him look as if he was planning on attacking them any minute, but his whole body suddenly relaxed and he was smiling at Terry, 'no, I wouldn't,' he said, 'but that's only because I have my own reasons. By the way… you are the sanest, too.'

Terry raised his eyebrows, 'what?'

'I was in Dumbledore's office, under an invisibility cloak,' Dean explained, 'I saw everything that's happened.' Then he suddenly gave a gasp of pain as he moved too abruptly and clutched his arm, which Terry did not heal.

Terry looked at him with narrowed eyes, 'if you think that telling me that is gonna help you get into my good books then you're awfully wrong. Oh, and, by the way, you got the cut on your arm from a nail which was sticking out of the wall, nothing else. I'm not gonna heal it.'

Dean said nothing as his features suddenly turned into an impossibly calm look. He walked towards the side of the room where his cloak was lying on the floor and picked it up, swiping it over his bare shoulders gracefully and holding it up to his chin so that it was impossible to tell that he was not wearing a shirt underneath. He shot Terry one last long look, then walked out of the door without another word.

For some reason, Hermione felt a wave of relief wash over her as Dean left the room. She noticed Terry and Josh exchange looks and folded her arms over her chest, leaning against the nearest table, much more at ease now that Dean was not there. 'So, Josh, can you tell me how you knew that I was here?' she asked the question she's been bursting to ask right from the beginning.

Josh leaned down to sit on the floor, resting one arm on his knee lazily, 'I don't know,' he said, 'I mean, I thought you'd be here because this is the room where we trained yesterday. Terry didn't want to come with me, so he just waited for me in the great hall.'

- 'So why did he come here in the end?'

'This is something we were planning to tell you,' Terry answered, 'it's kinda hard to explain. I mean, I have no idea what it is myself. Me and Josh can talk to each other in our heads- I think it's telepathy. Anyway, Josh called me for help telepathically, saying that someone was attacking him from behind, which is how I knew to come here. Not that there was any need for it,' he added with a smile, 'you were doing a pretty damn good job yourself.'

'Hardly,' Hermione said, 'Dean was really good. We couldn't have taken on him if you couldn't do wandless magic. He told me that Dumbledore hires a private tutor for him, but that's not the point. I don't think that telepathy is possible in the wizarding world- I never heard of it and, trust me, I know a lot. I think we should do some research about it in the library…' she trailed off thoughtfully, putting her hand up unconsciously to remove a strand of hair from her face before remembering that her hair was already pulled back. 'So, did you decide if you're going to stay over in Christmas?'

The boys both looked surprised at Hermione's question, which had nothing to do with what they were talking about, but Josh answered nonetheless. 'Well,' he said, 'I wouldn't mind, but I didn't talk with Terry about it.'

Hermione smiled, 'I did,' she said, 'and he wouldn't mind either.'

Josh looked at Terry, confused, 'hey! When did you have a chance to talk to her about it when I wasn't around?'

'Why are you asking? Are you jealous?' Terry laughed, then, seeing the annoyed look on Josh's face, he put his arms up defensively, 'hey, relax, it's nothing. I mean, we talked about it this morning when you were too lazy to get up.'

'That's great,' Hermione said, genuinely happy at their decision and ignoring their bickering, 'oh, there's only one more thing. Terry, remember when you told me that you're going to tell me why you call each other these names?'

'Yes,' Terry answered, but before he had a chance to say anything else, Josh interrupted with a sly grin on his face;

'We'll only tell you on one condition,' he said.

Hermione looked at him suspiciously, 'that doesn't sound good.'

'It isn't,' Terry said, smiling mischievously, 'at least, not for you,' he added as an after-thought.

'I knew it!' Hermione shouted, then she looked at Terry, 'hey, how did you… wait a second,' she said suspiciously, 'did you just talk to Josh telepathically?'

Terry looked impressed, 'yes, actually. How did you figure it out?'

- 'it was Josh who suggested to tell me whatever it is you want to tell me at one condition. You weren't supposed to know what it is.'

'Well, you're quick,' Josh said, 'anyway, back to business… we'll only tell you if you come flying with us on Saturday.'

'What?' Hermione said, being caught off guard at the unpredictable statement, 'no, no way! I don't know how to fly! I hate heights!'

Terry smirked, 'we don't have to tell you anything…'

'Oh, come on,' Hermione said, 'don't be so evil!'

Terry made a move with his hand as if he was zipping his mouth shut.

'You're _so_ insensitive,' Hermione said, faking getting hurt, 'you're trying to blackmail me!' she looked at the boys hopefully, but they both looked as if their mind was set. She sighed, 'fine, fine! I hope you're happy, but I guess I should warn you now that if I die you are facing a _very_ painful death by an anonymous someone.'

'Sounds fair…' Terry said thoughtfully, 'so, a deal is a deal, I guess I should tell you…' he told her everything, with Josh adding things which Terry forgot to say in the middle. When they finished, Hermione was gaping at them with an open mouth;

'Wow,' she said, unable to think of anything else to say, 'so… you just took care of yourselves for the past three years? I mean, you are too young! And you were probably… only nine years old when you ran away from the orphanage. That's so irresponsible! I can't believe Charlie Weasley actually agreed to help you! He shouldn't have!'

'Why not?' Terry asked.

- 'Because… because… you were too young to take care of yourselves!'

'We did fine by ourselves so far,' Terry said, 'and I know that neither of us would have gone as far as we did if we stayed at the orphanage. We would have still been poor, waiting for a foster family, and we wouldn't have even known that we were brothers. We at least know now who we are, which is much better than our situation before we ran away.'

'Well…' Hermione started, 'you do have a point, and I think you are right, but it was all just luck. Just think about what would have happened if you somehow lost your job. You wouldn't have had anywhere to stay and you couldn't return to the orphanage.'

Josh waved his hand dismissively, 'nah, we would have been fine,' he said, 'we can take care of ourselves. The worst thing that could happen was that we had to sleep rough.'

'Yeah, and you could have gotten mugged,' Hermione said.

Josh laughed, 'everyone around Powell Place knew us. We were both feared and respected by everyone. There was no way anyone would have mugged us!'

'You never know what kinds of people there are out there,' Hermione argued.

'Hey, could you two shut up? You're giving me a headache!' Terry complained, then he turned to Hermione, 'we did what we did and we got to where we are now. We shouldn't be thinking about what _could've_ gone wrong.'

'Yeah, I guess you're right,' Hermione agreed, 'hey, I'm starving. Is anybody up to going up to the great hall?'

Terry and Josh both agreed and they all started to head towards the great hall, talking about everything. Hermione couldn't help but think about how comfortable it was to talk to them. It seemed like the most natural thing on earth and it gave her the best feeling she had in a very long time. A feeling of belonging.



* * *

I don't know about you, but this is totally my fav. chap! I'm not planning on totally changing Hermione's personality. Maybe I'll just make her less of a nerd, but she's still gonna be the clever one who knows everything.

Anyway, Dean was supposed to be the kind of mysterious guy. I don't really know if I succeeded in making him that, but I love his character anyway. Please, review, but no criticism! (Unless you find any spelling mistakes- I deserve to be blamed!)


	9. Chapter 9

Hi, everyone! Thanks for everyone who reviewed. Sorry I didn't update in such a long time - I've been kinda busy (doing exams. And I really would prefer not to know the results!).

I'm planning on introducing several new characters in this chapter, some of whom will play a major part later on. Oh, and I only noticed now that I've never done any disclaimer, so, for anyone who did not figure it out already, I do not own Harry Potter.

And just one last bit which is intended to a single person only: this is what choco asked me to do. Hope K-T is happy now.

* * *

**Chapter 9:**

'I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die…' It was Saturday morning, and Hermione found herself outside of the castle, in the Hogwarts grounds, with Terry and Josh standing either side of her. It was a nice, sunny day, but Hermione did not notice the weather at all as all of her senses were focused on the broom she was clutching with her hands, screaming at her that doing what she was going to do now was the worst idea she has had so far, making it the first bad idea she has ever had.

'Oh stop being so over-dramatic,' Josh said, frowning, 'look, I'll show you how to do it. You see, put your hands on the broom like that…' he put her hands in the right position on the handle of the broom. 'Now, just kind of kick off from the ground. Terry, show her.'

The broom Hermione was sitting on was Josh's nimbus two thousand, so Terry was doing the demonstrations on his own broom. He made a slight movement with his legs so that he started soaring gently a few feet above the ground. 'See?' he said to Hermione, who was looking at him with wide-eyed fear, 'it's no big deal.'

Hermione was not as sure as Terry that it was not a big deal and she was wishing against all wishes that she did not agree with their deal. Not knowing what Terry and Josh had to tell her was not half as bad as having to fly a broom. She looked at the broom which was ruining her morning with hate, wondering weakly what she was supposed to do with it.

'Just don't think about it too much,' Terry advised, 'it's kind of like learning to swim for the first time; it's not as bad as it looks once you get used to it.'

'For your information, Terry, that doesn't make me feel any better,' Hermione informed him, looking up at his form which was hovering above her, shielding her eyes with her hand as the sun was blinding them, 'I tried to learn to swim when I was five and almost drowned. I've never been anywhere near a swimming pool ever since.' She shuddered at the memory, remembering the first and last time she was trying to swim in the private swimming pool of Shigamo's house.

'Oh,' Terry was looking sheepish.

'Don't listen to Terry,' Josh said with a slight smile, 'flying is nothing like swimming, it's much more difficult. You have to hold on really tightly to your broom to make sure you don't fall off - you don't even have a seatbelt and you die instantly if you do.'

Staring at him with wide eyes, Hermione felt her palms starting to sweat and she was holding the broom more tightly than ever.

Terry landed his own broom down, glaring at Josh, 'stop it, you idiot, you were the one who suggested to teach her. What kind of encouragement is that from a teacher?' turning to Hermione, he said reassuringly, 'don't worry, it's not that bad. I know that you won't fall down, but if you do than I'll catch you. I'm flying right below you.'

'Right,' she said, starting to get sick of having to listen to Terry and Josh's less than comforting conversation. She would just have to get it over with. She was a Gryffindor, after all, and Gryffindors were supposed to be brave. The worst thing that could happen was that she died…

She gripped the handle of the broom tightly and, taking a deep breath which was _supposed _to calm her down, kicked off from the ground as hard as she could. 'Whoa!' she shouted as her broom suddenly zoomed upwards rapidly. Apparently, she kicked off just a _little_ bit too hard. It was the first time she was on a broom since she profusely refused to get anywhere near even the beginner brooms of Madame Hooch a few days ago. She felt the wind beating against her with alarming force and shut her eyes tightly. The broom suddenly slowed down as she was not giving it any further encouragement and she opened her eyes as she heard Terry's voice shouting from below her,

'Hey, that was great for a first time,' he shouted, giving her the thumbs-up sign just in case she did not hear him, 'try flying around a bit. Just sort of give your broom a nudge if you need it to turn somewhere- this broom is much more sensitive than the school brooms, so it's easier to use…'

He continued giving her instructions, making her fly around and do all kinds of things. About an hour later, she was starting to get the hang of it and even, to her great surprise, enjoying it. After two more hours, she could fly fluently and started zooming around aimlessly, enjoying the wind that was blowing against her face and completely forgetting about Terry's presence.

'Hey, wait up!' Terry shouted after her, flying towards her. They continued flying around, enjoying themselves. Terry was doing some tricks on his broom, making flips on it. They only stopped when it was about noon and landed their brooms, heading down to the great hall for lunch.

'Wow, that was _something,_' Hermione said, excited.

'Yeah,' Terry agreed, walking beside her. 'Hey!' he suddenly said, 'where's Josh? He was with us when we just came here.'

Hermione giggled, 'what? Did you expect him to just stay there and watch us fly while he did nothing? I definitely need to get my own broom- I can't use Josh's one all the time.'

'I thought brooms were not allowed for first years,' Terry said, grinning, 'which reminds me- you owe me two cents.'

Hermione looked at him in disbelief, then shook her head, 'you are unbelievable! I thought you were joking!'

'Maybe I was,' Terry said, 'then again, maybe I wasn't- I didn't have any muggle money for ages.'

Hermione shook her head again in disbelief, then smiled, 'hey, you're a great teacher. I don't think I could have learned that much in such a short time if I only relied on Hooch's lessons.'

'Gee, thanks,' Terry said, 'I don't usually get many compliments from Josh.'

As soon as they arrived at the great hall, Terry and Hermione spotted Josh with Ron and Neville, laughing loudly about something. Dean and Seamus were nowhere to be seen. 'Hey guys. What's up?' Terry asked as soon as they arrived and took a seat across from the three boys.

'So… you decided to dump us, huh?' Ron asked as a return to Terry's question.

'What?'

- 'Josh said that the training's off.'

'Oh, that,' Terry said, grinning, 'yeah. Actually, we didn't want to do it, anyway. You lot just forced it on us.'

Hermione looked at the boys, feeling out of place, but still curios, 'did you plan on … you've completely lost your minds!' she informed them.

Josh grinned at her, 'actually, no,' he said, 'what's wrong with that? Terry just gave you five hours of private tutoring in flying a few minutes ago.'

Ron and Neville looked curios. The idiots obviously thought that something was going on between them. 'Really?' Neville asked, looking at Terry, then at Hermione and then at Terry again.

Terry blushed, but Hermione just looked at Neville. 'So?' she asked coolly, 'I bet you anything that I could now enter the quiditch team easily, if I wanted to, thanks to Terry. Not that I want to, by the way, but I saw you in our last flying lesson and _you _were totally pathetic.'

Neville looked surprised at her response and blushed slightly, 'you didn't even go _near_ a broom,' he informed her.

'Whatever,' Hermione said, pushing her plate away and wanting to get away from the more-than-boring conversation, 'I'm going to the library. Hey, guys,' she said, turning to Terry and Josh, 'D'you wanna come with me?'

'Sure,' Josh answered, getting up from his seat while Terry did the same, 'see you later, guys,' he added to Neville and Ron.

As soon as they were out of the great hall, Josh turned to Hermione. 'It's about time. I wondered when we were going to start.'

'Start what?' Terry asked, puzzled.

- 'Researching about telepathy, of course.'

'You're more observant than you look,' Hermione said, 'and I thought that you were a total idiot.'

'Talk about an idiot,' Josh muttered, 'I'm clever at everything. You are only clever when it comes to books. The rest of the time you're just as clever as my old PE teacher.'

'He's just exaggerating,' Terry told Hermione, 'she couldn't even read. You're not _that_ stupid.'

'You two are just jealous of me,' Hermione said smartly, 'and, Josh, I thought you told me yesterday that I was fast.' Despite being constantly cool, Hermione felt annoyed that Josh was comparing her to a woman who could not _read_. If Terry was not joking.

'That was only to make you feel better,' Josh replied with a grin.

'Gee, thanks,' Hermione said dryly, 'I never would have guessed you could be so sensitive about other people's feelings.'

Josh and Hermione continued bickering for the rest of the way, until they reached the library, when Hermione pushed the door open as confidently as if it was her own house.

Terry looked around at the hundreds of bookshelves which were stacked with thousands of books, some of which were so dusty you could not read their title, 'OK, where do we start looking?'

'I think…' Hermione started, putting a hand to her lips thoughtfully, 'the history section.'

Two pairs of eyes stared at her blankly.

She walked over to the history section, scanning the books while explaining, 'I was thinking… you are able to do wandless magic,' she mused, 'which has something to do with history so I think that…' her voice caught in her throat abruptly as she suddenly spotted a pair of hazel eyes gazing at her steadily.

Terry and Josh looked around to see what Hermione was looking at. One corner of Dean's mouth twitched a little as he caught their eyes, but he looked blankly calm as he held Terry's gaze for a few more seconds, then he just lowered his head to look at the open book which was resting on his desk as if he has seen nothing.

Terry narrowed his eyes, but the look quickly disappeared to be replaced with a casual one. 'Weirdo,' he muttered, 'you were saying?' he said, turning to Hermione again.

'I think we should just take some books up to the dormitory,' Hermione suggested anxiously, taking some books from the shelf, then looking at the boys for some support, 'ahem, _hello_? Can I get some help around here? You don't expect _me _to carry all the books, do you?'



'Hey, I think I got something!' Terry suddenly shouted after a few hours of fruitless searching of books, receiving some looks from older fellow Gryffindors whose peace was disturbed at the shout while they were trying to study for their NEWTs.

Hermione and Josh, who were sitting at the table across from him, both looked up from their books, so he shoved it under their noses for them to read.

_Telepathy_

_Telepathy was a rare skill which existed over four hundred years ago. It occurred mostly in witches and wizards and less commonly in vampires. _

_Telepathy is thought to have a genetic link to it. It occurred in about one person out of five hundred and seemed to pass on in families. The most famous telepath ever known was Godrick Gryffindor, one of the founders of Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry which is currently ran by the headmaster Albus Dumbledore. Some of Gryffindor's descendants were also known to have telepathic abilities. _

_Although telepathy has completely died down by the twentieth century, many people noticed that telepaths were either witches and wizards with strong magical abilities or people who experienced some unusually strong contact with magic at some point in their lives. _

_The skill itself involves the generation of thoughts from a telepath to a different person, be he or she a muggle, witch, wizard or a fellow telepath, in which case mental communication could be achieved. _

When Josh and Hermione finished reading, Josh pushed the book back towards Terry. 'Does that mean that we are some kind of descendants of Godrick Gryffindor?' he asked no one in particular.

'It is possible,' Hermione answered thoughtfully, 'especially because you were chosen to be in Gryffindor, but that does not necessarily have to be the case.'

Terry snorted. 'This definitely isn't the case,' he said, 'the sorting hat was going to put me in Slytherin. It only put me in Gryffindor because I threatened to tear it to pieces if it didn't do so,' he informed Hermione.

'Really?' Josh asked, looking genuinely surprised, 'this is exactly what happened with me, only the hat wanted to put me in Hufflepuff not in Slytherin, and I threatened to burn it, not tear it to pieces. I just thought that it would be more satisfying.'

Hermione was looking at Terry and Josh as if they have lost their minds, so Terry warily decided to change the… disturbing… subject. 'You know what I think?' he asked, 'I think maybe it is also possible for us to generate thoughts to other people, like the book said. _Like this. Can you hear me, Hermione?'_ Terry asked, trying to generate the last sentence to Hermione to see if she could hear him.

'Wow, this is amazing!' Hermione answered, 'yeah, I could hear you. It's like having these little listening devices you put in your ears, only they wouldn't have worked here because this is a magical area and electricity can't work here. Do you have any idea how useful this is?'

'Ah… yeah, it could be pretty useful, I guess…' Terry mumbled.

'I wonder how come you can do it,' Hermione mused, 'it's supposed to have died down, like the book said. And there is also this wandless magic thing. I think Shigamo mentioned it to me once, but I can't remember what he said… something about a few of his agents being able to do it…'

'Hey, now that you're talking about Shigamo… did you tell him that we agreed to stay at your place in Christmas? Because we haven't informed Stan yet,' Terry said.

'Yes, actually,' Hermione answered, 'and he was really happy about your decision, but what are you gonna tell Stan?'

'Don't worry about it,' Josh said, waving his hand dismissively, 'we can just tell him that teachers are supposed to stay here at Christmas.'

- 'What?'

'Oh, we didn't tell you, did we?' Terry said, 'we told Stan that we've been offered jobs as teachers at Hogwarts, but that we're gonna come back in the holidays. We became pretty close to him, actually. I wonder what he's gonna say if he found out that we're only eleven…'

- 'Probably "you're fired"'

'_No_ way!' Josh exclaimed, 'he loves us! He would never do that! I think that if he found out about us than he's gonna adopt us.'

Hermione looked doubtful, but Terry knew that this was one of those rare occasions when Josh said something half jokingly which was actually true.



The rest of the term passed on very slowly for Terry, who was getting increasingly bored in the lessons he already knew. The only lessons he enjoyed were potions, in which he always competed with Josh about who could make Snape remove more points from Gryffindor, and flying, which was, obviously, his favorite lesson. He thought that his favorite teacher was probably Madame Hooch, who always let him and Josh do whatever they wanted during her lesson while she taught the rest of the morons.

Quiditch practice was also a very enjoyable experience for him. The other chaser apart from him and Josh was Angelina Johnson, who was surprisingly good for a girl. He was also starting to like the Weasley twins, who were the beaters, after he got used to their sense of humor. Wood was also OK, although he was a bit boring because he took quiditch too seriously and he always kept barking orders at the rest of the players. The last player was Alicia Spinet , who was originally supposed to be a chaser, but was forced to take the seeker position as Wood insisted that he could not replace either of the twins (the Potter ones) with her.

As they neared January, Hogwarts grounds were starting to get covered up in snow. Terry and Josh talked with Hermione, who told them, to their dismay, that Snape was the one who was supposed to take them to Japan via a portkey. When the time came, Snape was leading all three kids towards the now open gates of Hogwarts, their luggage floating behind them, following them.

'Where are we going?' Terry asked.

'Japan,' Snape answered shortly.

Terry tried not to get annoyed, 'then why don't we use the portkey right now? Do we have to go somewhere else before that?

'Of course we do,' Snape said impatiently, 'for two reasons: a portkey does not work inside Hogwarts grounds, so that people could not come in from the outside, and I don't want Dumbledore to see me taking you somewhere. Everyone is just going to think that we are heading towards the train, but we are going to Hogsmead.'

The walk to Hogsmead lasted about fifteen minutes. The place looked not very different from Powell Place, with lots of wizarding shops and businesses and people walking around aimlessly in different directions. Snape, however, did not stop there but continued walking up the long street, where the number of people was starting to dwindle. In the end, they arrived at a steep path uphill, which had a sign on it saying "danger: keep away!" Ignoring the sign, Snape led the children up the hill, which was covered in sharp rocks.

When they were well away from the eyes of people, Snape stopped, 'I think it is safe here. This is the portkey.' He took an empty potions bottle from his robes and held it out for the kids to hold.

Terry has never traveled by portkey before, but he knew what to expect from the text books; it was as if his finger was glued to the bottle, and he felt his feet lift off from the ground as he was spinning around in the air along with Snape, Josh and Hermione, who all had their own fingers glued to the portkey.

When they finally stopped, Terry found himself inside a huge, modern house, which had the most expensive looking furniture. The room he was in looked like the living room; there were three black leather sofas in the middle around a brown, wooden coffee-table and a huge silver flat screen TV in the corner. The walls were painted a very soft shade of brown and the floor was covered with a thick white carpet. Overall, the place looked very elegant.

As soon as they arrived, Hermione gave a huge sigh and collapsed onto one of the sofas. 'Home sweet home,' she muttered. She grinned at Terry and Josh, 'feel at home,' she said, 'you can sit wherever you like; sofa, floor, table, whatever,'

'Now, now, how many times have I told you that sitting on the table is forbidden?' Terry turned around to see the familiar face of Shigamo, which he has seen from Hermione's two way mirror. 'Please, ignore Hermione,' he told Terry and Josh with a friendly smile, extending a hand for each of them to shake, 'I am Shigamo, as you probably know. We have had the pleasure of meeting once, did we not?'

'Ah, oh, yes,' Terry said, looking around uncomfortably. He was not exactly used to being in a place like that and he had no idea how he was supposed to act.

'Hello, Severus,' Shigamo said, turning to Snape, 'how are you?'

'Never better,' Snape muttered coolly, as usual, but with obvious sarcasm. Terry wondered how long it took Shigamo to convince Snape to take them there.

'You know your way around this house, don't you?' Shigamo asked, pretending not to notice the sarcasm in his voice, 'could you please help the boys take their luggage up to their rooms while I have a private word with Hermione?'

'Of course,' Snape said, motioning for Terry and Josh to follow him while their luggage was still following them from behind.

They went up a modern looking set of white stone steps which led to a wide corridor with lots of doors lining it. 'Wow, this place is huge!' Josh exclaimed, unable to help himself. Why did he always have to be so blunt?

Terry expected Snape to scowl at him, but was surprised at what Snape said next, 'yes, I know. That's what I thought the first time I've been here. It's going to take some time getting used to.'

He showed each of them their rooms, which were facing each other. 'I'm not going to stay here,' he informed them, 'but Hermione's room is over there.' He pointed at a room at the far end of the corridor. He then left them on their own.

'Is he under the imperius curse, or what?' Josh asked, 'why is he being so nice?'

Terry shrugged, 'I have no idea, but who cares? This place's _so_ cool!'

'Yeah, I know,' Josh answered, 'well, I guess I should unpack. See you in a bit.'

- 'Yeah, see you.'

Terry opened the door to his room and immediately let out a gasp of surprise: it was absolutely _huge_! The walls were painted a light brown, like the rest of the house, and he had an enormous king sized bed. He went over to the large window, and peeked out. Outside, he could see the back garden, which had a large swimming pool and some trees at the edges.

He walked over to a door to his right, opening it, and was delighted to see that he had his own bathroom with a shower and toilets. He grinned as he closed the door behind him and walked over to his bed, slumping down on it. He was definitely going to enjoy his stay here. This was, without question, much better than the orphanage, where you shared a room with five other people, slept on a bed which had springs sticking out at odd places, meaning that you hardly got any hours of sleep and, when you finally got up and away from the nightmarish mattress in the morning, you had to wait in a queue for at least half an hour in order to be able to use the bathroom (well, not always in _Terry's _case, due to some … certain reasons, but that was beside the point).



Dina got home exhausted when she returned from the tennis club she had to attend every Monday. She opened the large gates which led to the garden and waved at Mrs. Small, the cook, who waved back from the open window in the kitchen. When she arrived at the front doors she took out a key and opened it tiredly, walking inside. The door led straight to the living room and, shutting the door behind her, she walked straight towards one of the sofas and collapsed onto it.

She pulled her wand out of the back pocket of her jeans and summoned her favorite book, stretching out on the sofa and opening it. It was an astronomy book, her favorite subject. Her mother, who was famous for her flying skills and went to teach flying lessons at Hogwarts, always used to laugh at her for liking such a ridiculous subject, but Dina could not care less. One of the things she wanted most but never got a chance to do was looking at the stars through a muggle telescope… a dream which she doubted was shared by any other ten year old.

Then again, she was not a normal ten year old. She was different. But she was not proud of it. Far from it. She always felt like a freak. But she always had her father to blame for it. Sometimes she wondered if it was bad to blame a dead man. Her father died last year and, although she was shocked, she did not feel very sad about it. She hardly knew him, and she was glad about it. He was an evil, ruthless man, like the rest of them. _Like me_, she thought, but pushed the thought quickly out of her mind.

She looked up from her book as one of the doors to the living room opened (there were three doors, unless you also counted the two staircases as doors). 'Hi Shi…' she started, but stopped short when she realized that the person standing at the doorway was not Shigamo. She immediately got her wand out and pointed it at the man, jumping up from the sofa. The only people living in this house apart from her were Shigamo, Mrs. Small and her younger brother, Adad. Shigamo was very selective about the people he invited home and never forgot to tell her if there were any guests. Although she only knew him for three months, Shigamo always told her to be wary of strangers and made sure she knew everything about death eaters.

She knew that three kids from Hogwarts were supposed to arrive there, but Shigamo said nothing about adults, unless you counted Remus Lupine, who was supposed to arrive there tomorrow.

She looked the man up and down carefully. He looked Italian. He had black hair, black eyes and high cheekbones. The cloths he was wearing were normal muggle cloths; normal jeans and a short sleeved black T-shirt. It was hard to guess his age, but the narrowest range Dina could think of was between eighteen and forty. She looked at his face again. He was looking at her wand but, far from looking threatened, he seemed amused.

'I take it you are Diana,' the man said.

Dina eyed him suspiciously. 'I don't know who you are and I don't really care,' she said honestly, 'the owner of this house is going to be back here any minute, so I expect you to get out.'

'Actually, Shigamo's out on business and he will not be back till late this evening,' the stranger said, looking amused.

- 'Who are you?'

He seemed to think about the question, as if not sure about the answer. 'Well…' he started, 'I am known as Terrence Locke, Renaldo Orriero, or Harry Potter, but - _most people _- call me Terry.'

_Like I care_, Dina thought. She didn't give a damn what his name was, she only wanted to know if he was a death eater. 'Good to know,' she muttered. _Or not_. 'Now could you please get out?' She raised her wand to remind him that she was armed and he had to listen to what she said. Then she remembered that she was not allowed to do magic at the age of ten. Of course, Shigamo ignored the rules completely, but she didn't know about _Terry_, or whatever his name was.

'I'd love to,' Terry answered, looking at his watch impatiently, 'but I'm waiting for someone. My brother was supposed to be here ten minutes ago.' Damn it, he looked confident. He did not even glance at her wand, as if it was just a piece of wood.

'Oh, finally.' Dina turned to look, alarmed, as Terry said this and spotted another man she did not know going down the stairs, 'what took you so long?'

This one looked Russian. Blond hair, blue eyes, athletic build, normal muggle clothes, like his companion. Dina was starting to panic. If they were death eaters then what were they looking for? She wondered if there were any more of them in the house. She knew that, with the wand, she was supposed to be in charge, but she somehow had no idea what she was supposed to do. She hoped she did not have to change if things got out of hand - she liked to keep it hidden.

'I think I just got around the whole house in a circle,' the Russian guy frowned, looking confused. Then, spotting Dina, he said, 'shit, I thought you said no one was going to be here.'

'Hey, it's not my fault,' Terry answered, 'I didn't know when she was gonna be back and Hermione said that she was going to stay in her room.'

Hermione? Dina remembered Shigamo mentioning Hermione. She was the one who lived here, and she was supposed to stay here along with two other boys from Hogwarts for the Christmas holidays.

'Really? I can't remember saying that to _you_.' Dina almost jumped out of her skin as she heard a new voice from behind her. She turned around to see a brown haired girl, still wearing wizarding robes, who had her wand out and pointing at the two men. All of a sudden, she felt relief flooding through her. She did not think that she could handle these two people alone. At least, not without exposing herself. And it was nice to know that there was someone on her side. She did not have to ask to know that the girl was Hermione, who probably just entered from the door behind Dina's back.

'Uh oh, I think we screwed up,' Terry murmured.

'Definitely,' the Russian guy agreed, 'you do not want to mess with _her_.'

'Funny, that you got that right,' Hermione sneered.

'Aww, I thought you only talked like that to _me_,' the Russian man frowned, 'because you just talked to me in this way, which is a _good _sign, because you don't know what I know which is that I am me, which means that you don't only treat _me _like that, but also _me_, which you _don't know _is me.' He paused for a second, looking confused, as if he was trying to make sense of what he has just said. Then he just shrugged and continued talking as if he did not stop. 'Or maybe it's only Terry you're being nice to. Hey, _I know_, do you like him? Come on, admit it.'

'What are you talking about?' Hermione looked completely baffled.

'I'll give you three guesses, see if you are as clever as everyone always thinks you are,' the Russian man answered. Dina stared at him. Unlike the other one, this man seemed like a lunatic, a thought which was probably shared by his ally, judging by his reaction.

'Stop it Josh, if you think that you're so funny, then you're wrong,' he said.

Hermione gaped at them. 'You are not trying to tell me that _you _are _them_,' she gasped.

'Bravo!' Josh, if that was his name, cheered, 'you _are_ clever.'

Dina had no idea what was going on. Hermione, however, put her wand back inside her robes and folded her arms across her chest. 'Give me proof.'

'Huh?'

'You heard.'

'Err, fine. Ask me something only I would know.'

'Which one are you? Terry or Josh?'

'Josh.'

'Who am I?'

'An irritating bitch.'

Hermione took an expensive looking vase which was standing on the table next to her and threw it at Josh. He ducked and it shuttered on the wall behind him.

'Hey! What was that for?' he asked, looking annoyed, as Terry repaired the vase with his wand and put it back in its respective place.

'Now that I know that you really _are_ Josh, I'm not gonna feel any guilt killing you,' Hermione shrugged. 'So, is that what you looked like in "quick potion"?'

'What if it isn't me?' he snarled, 'how can you be so sure?'

Hermione smiled sweetly, 'Terry told me.'

'What? How could he … _Oh_!' Josh turned to look at Terry with a murderous expression, 'how dare you!' he snarled, 'you're my brother, you're supposed to be on my side.' It sounded like an accusation.

'Ah… could anybody tell me what's going on?' Dina was starting to feel left out. She had no idea who any of them were and Shigamo was not there to make it any easier. And how could Terry tell Hermione whatever it was he told her? She certainly couldn't hear him say anything.

'Yeah, look at the poor girl, I think you scared her,' Hermione said, 'apologize!' It wasn't a question - it was an order.

Terry and Josh both glared at her.

'And take them off. These appearances are too ridiculous - I have no idea how anyone could have fallen for it,' she said, 'why did you change your appearances, anyway?'

'Gee, relax, Hermione, there's no need to shout,' Terry scowled at her. 'No one was supposed to see us. We just planned to take a look around the neighborhood and … you know …'

'For one thing, Terry, I wasn't shouting,' Hermione replied, exasperated, 'for another, you don't have to change your appearance to be able to go outside - you could have just asked me to show you around.'

'Well, no, actually. We were planning to … well …'

'Yes?' Hermione's voice was dangerously low.

'Go to places where… we wouldn't have normally been allowed to go,' Terry answered, looking as if he was ready for a blow. The blow came, in the form of the remote control of the TV, which came flying at him. Terry caught it. 'Come on, Hermione, what c-'

'Oh, shut up,' Hermione cut him off, taking her wand out of her robes again and pointing it at him. Immediately, he was shrunk down to an eleven year old kid. Black hair, green eyes, sharp features (for a boy his age), and an average build. Now that he was smaller, the clothes he was wearing were much too big for him and he was struggling to keep his pants up. Dina noticed that he had a scar on his forehead in the shape of a lightning bolt.

'No,' Josh squealed as Hermione pointed her wand at him, putting his arms up to his face for protection, 'I'll do it myself, thanks. I'll just go to the bathroom to change my clothes.'

Hermione seemed to think about it. Then she shrugged, 'OK, but do it quick.'

'Thanks for giving _me _a choice,' Terry mumbled, 'I'll go as well.'

The boys went out of the room together. Terry kept treading on his oversized clothes. Dina stared at them.

'Boys really are morons,' Hermione said, catching Dina eyeing them and shaking her head. (A/N: that's a personal opinion of mine. Sorry for all the boys out there. This is just a result of having to suffer nine long years since the birth of my brother. He's a pain all the time except for when he's asleep. If not for my two step sisters, I would have lost my mind ages ago.)

'Tell me about it,' Dina murmured, 'you should see my little brother - he's a total freak.' She paused, remembering that she didn't introduce herself. 'I'm Diana, by the way, but I prefer to be called Dina. So, are you gonna stay here for the rest of the holiday? At this rate, I'm gonna wish for the holiday to be over, and that's saying something because I'm going to a muggle school and it's total torment. I can't even speak the language and, so far, I only met two people who can speak English.'

'Are you kidding me?' Hermione giggled, '_I_ have to suffer their presence _all_ the time. I'm the only one who keeps them from turning Hogwarts upside-down and, trust me, it's a hard job.'

'You don't have to work so hard to convince me - they've done a good enough job,' Dina joined Hermione's giggles. 'What did they do?'

'Not much, thanks to me,' Hermione rolled her eyes, 'the only time I let them lose they almost killed a guy.'

'That's not true, it was only a few broken bones,' Terry said as he and Josh were back. Josh was back to his normal form and Terry was wearing smaller clothes again.

'Exactly,' Josh added, 'and you didn't mention what the bastard did to _me_.'

'Mmm … and, as far as I remember, you took a _very_ active part in Dean's murder,' Terry put in. 'Too bad he didn't die in the end. I wonder what he told his _father_ about his arm?' he flopped down on the sofa.

Josh sat down next to him, putting his legs up on the coffee table. He looked a lot like Terry. They had the same nose and the same black hair, but Josh had brown eyes and he was bigger and more athletic looking than Terry. There was a long scar running down his chin.

'How did you two come here so quickly?' Hermione demanded.

'Magic,' Josh whispered mysteriously. Hermione rolled her eyes.

Dina smiled. These people seemed easy enough to get along with. 'You know, I'm going to go to Hogwarts as well next year,' she said. 'You know Madame Hooch? That's my mother. She probably started teaching you flying.'

Terry and Josh stared at her. 'Your mother's Madame Hooch?' Terry asked unbelievingly. 'Shigamo told me that your mother's teaching at Hogwarts, but I didn't know that it was _her_.'

Erm … was that a bad thing? 'Huh? Why?' she asked.

Josh looked at her with a solemn expression. 'Your mum's the worst teacher in the school. Everyone hates her. She keeps giving detentions for nothing. And she can't even teach. There was one boy who broke his arm during her lesson when he fell off a broom, but he's been lucky, others could have died.'

'Huh?' Dina said again. She had no idea her mother could be like that. She was always nice to her and Adad and she also taught them how to fly a broom. Each of them could fly a broom fluently as soon as they learnt to walk and none of them ever fell off…

'Ha ha…' Josh laughed, 'you should see your face. Ha ha ha, that was _so_ funny. You actually believed that!'

Dina stared at him. So she has been right when she thought that he was a lunatic. The guy seemed to have a screw lose in his brain.

'Just ignore him,' Terry advised her, looking at his brother in disgust, 'he likes to exaggerate. Actually, your mum's my favorite teacher. She got me and Josh into the quiditch team even though it was against the laws for first years and she managed to embarrass my evil potions teacher in front of the whole class.' Dina wondered if he was not saying that to make her feel more comfortable.

Hermione seemed to read her mind. 'Don't worry about it,' she said, 'they're both crazy. But Josh is an all-time crazy while Terry is only crazy at certain times of the day, so don't start getting the wrong impressions. Try to catch him at five o'clock in the afternoon and you'll know what I mean.'

'Hey, who gave you any right to discuss my level of craziness?' Terry grimaced.

'I did.'

Josh yawned. 'Change subject,' he said. 'It's my first day here and I already don't know what to do. What _do_ you usually do around here?'

'Read!' Hermione answered immediately. Then her face fell. 'But I don't have anything left to read. I already finished all the books. Except for one, but it was too boring. I can give it to you, I think you'll like it.'

'Like a book you hate?' Josh said thoughtfully, 'that's logical …'

'There's also a swimming pool at the back,' Dina said. 'And I always go to a tennis club. My brother goes to a basketball club which is just a few blocks from here, but I never go there because there are hardly any girls in there.'

'And there's also a dojo. I went there when I was younger, but Shigamo made me stop when I got into a fight with this boy, Kogo, who was three years older than me,' Hermione said, 'I hate him _sooo_ much. I swear, if I ever see him again, he's gonna regret the day he was born.'

'What's a dojo?' Josh asked, not bothering to hide another yawn.

'A school for training in various arts of self-defense,' Hermione answered.

'Was that a quotation?' Josh asked, removing his legs from the table and resting his elbows on his knees.

'Yes.'

'You know, Hermione, you keep talking about Terry and Josh, but you're a lot like them,' Dina said, frowning.

'Say that again and your fate won't be very different from Kogo's,' Hermione said, although she sounded a bit amused, as if it was a compliment for her but she didn't want to admit it.

'Gee, Hermione, anyone who heard you might think you hate us,' Terry smiled. 'And, Diana, don't worry about Hermione. As hard as it might be, I always keep her and Josh under control.'

Both Hermione and Dina suddenly burst out laughing. Terry looked alarmed. 'Huh? What did I say?' he asked.

'Exactly what Hermione said about you and Josh a few minutes ago,' Dina answered. Terry scowled. 'And it's Dina, not Diana. I hate that name,' Dina added.

'Why?'

Damn it, she hated it when this aspect was brought up. And she didn't like to share it with other people. 'I just don't like the sound of it,' she replied. 'Dina sounds better.'

'You know,' Hermione mused, 'you don't look a lot like your mother.'

'Yeah, she's a lot prettier,' Josh said. Hermione smacked him on the back of the head and he shut up.

'Well, I do look a bit like my father,' Dina said, grimacing. She hated mentioning him. But, nevertheless, it was true. She had a heart shaped face with a stubborn chin. Her hair was short and auburn and she had large, unnaturally green eyes. Her mother always told her that she was pretty, but Dina never really cared too much about how she looked. She cut her hair short because it irritated her when it got into her face. Now that she was thinking about it, maybe she will need to cut it again soon because it was too short for her to tuck behind her ear, but long enough to reach her eyes. Or maybe she could leave it like that and wait for it to grow…

Dina glanced up as the front door opened and her brother got inside with another Japanese boy and a girl. Her mouth dropped open. How the hell did he manage to make friends so quickly? 'Hi Adad,' she said.

'Hi,' he answered, not even looking at her and sparing a short glance at their three guests before heading for the stairs to his room with his friends.

'Where're you going?'

'He is going to show us his new computer,' the girl he was with said in a chirpy voice, flipping her long raven black hair behind her shoulder. Adad vanished up the stairs before the girl could finish the sentence and she came running after him. The clever git. He only befriended people who could already speak English. She sometimes found it frustrating trying to communicate with other people in English while they always answered in Japanese. It always ended up with both sides flapping their arms around in order to try to get a message along.

'So…' Dina grinned at her new friends, 'you have met the ultimate freak, Adad.'

'Adad?' Josh asked.

Dina nodded. 'My dad thought of that name,' she said. 'It's the name of some kind of a god.' Crap, crap, crap, crap … she hated mentioning her dad, or anything to do with him.

'Mmm … that's interesting,' Hermione mused. She looked at Dina carefully, as if to try and figure something out. Then she opened her mouth, as if to say something, but changed her mind abruptly and closed it again. She then changed her mind again, but she seemed to select her words carefully. 'Did your father also name you?' she asked.

Dina laughed humorlessly. 'Why?'

'Just asking,' Hermione answered.

Dina didn't like the question at all. She needed to change the subject. 'Hey, I've got an idea! Have you got a swimsuit? We could go swimming.'

If Hermione was surprised by the abrupt change of subject, she did not show it. 'That would have been a great idea if I was not terrified of water,' she said brightly.

'I wouldn't mind going to the swimming pool,' Terry said. 'You can fly my nimbus 2000 if you want to,' he added to Hermione, 'see if you remember anything.'

'Yeah, and I'll come as well,' Josh put in. Good. Now they were not going to ask any more questions.



Twenty minutes later, the four kids were in the back garden of Shigamo's house. There was a long, tall stylish wooden fence surrounding the place and two trees to block the view from the outside for privacy, so that they were far from the eyes of any muggles. Josh was flying in his broom while Hermione was using Terry's one. Terry and Dina were below them, in the swimming pool.

Terry felt a bit awkward, because he hardly knew Dina, so he just started swimming around aimlessly. Dina seemed OK. She was pretty, but she was also very quite. Maybe it was because she was not used to them. After he swum about twenty lengths, he got fed up and started swimming towards Dina, at the shallow end.

She was wearing a whole, plain red swimsuit and she sat at the edge of the pool, only putting her legs inside the water. Terry sat down next to her. 'Hey.'

'Hi.'

'Is everything OK?'

She looked at him. 'Yes.'

'Is that what you always do? Sit down and stare into space?'

She smiled. 'Only at night.'

OK. That was weird.

'I like astronomy,' she explained. _Oh_.

'It's not night now.'

'I know. I was just thinking.'

Terry didn't want to pry into her business. He had no right to ask her what she was thinking about, so he just stayed quite.

'You know a few hours ago…' she started.

'Yes?'

'You said something about Harry Potter.'

'That's me.'

'Oh.'

'That's not what you are supposed to say,' Terry smiled.

'I know,' she answered, 'but what do you expect me to say? "_ohmigosh! I can't believe it, you can't be Harry Potter_"' she put on a chirpy voice as she said it. 'you don't look like you're lying…'

Terry laughed.

'You have a brother.' It was a statement rather than a question.

'Yeah. Only a few people know about him,' Terry said. 'Even I only found out about him three years ago. Mind you, we didn't know that we were brothers for sure. There was even evidence against it. But we somehow knew. You know what I mean?'

'No,' she replied, 'but I can imagine what it's like.'

'So, how come you are staying here?' Terry asked her.

Dina looked at him, as if not sure of what to say. 'Do you know what Shigamo is working on?'

'He didn't tell me anything, but I think he wants to take revenge on Dumbledore.'

'Do you know why?'

'Yes.'

'My mum is working for him. That's the only reason she is working as a teacher at Hogwarts. She planned on retiring last year, but … she found out _things _after my father died last year.'

'I'm sorry,' Terry couldn't think of anything else to say.

Dina smiled grimly. 'It's OK. Back then I wasn't sure if my father's death was a chance to celebrate or mourn. Now I'm sure.'

Terry got a nasty feeling that what Dina was sure about was that her father's death should have been celebrated.

'Since I didn't have my father, and my mother was teaching at Hogwarts for a whole year, I had to stay here. Luckily for me, I'm going to go to Hogwarts next year, but my brother is gonna stay here.' She looked thoughtful. 'At least he is going to get the chance to learn a new language. He seems to be getting along fine with the people here.'

'What house do you want to be in next year?' Terry asked.

'Well,' Dina seemed to think about it, 'my mum was in Hufflepuff, so I wouldn't mind being there, too. What house are you in?'

'Gryffindor.'

'The house for the brave and noble,' she laughed, 'I wouldn't mind being there either, though I can't think how you, and especially Josh, got there.'

'Through blackmailing.'

'Huh?'

'Of the sorting hat.'

Dina burst out laughing. She looked as if she was not sure whether she believed him or not. But it was fine now. Now that they got used to each other, they also felt comfortable in each other's company, so they didn't have to say anything. Terry leant back and looked up at the sky, putting his hands behind his head.

'_Hee-haw!' _he suddenly heard Josh's voice in his mind. _'Hey there, bro, this is amaze-ing! I have no idea what you did to her, but she's actually _good_! How the hell did you manage to do that? She wouldn't even get near a broom before!'_

It took Terry a few minutes to figure out what Josh was talking about. He grinned, even though he knew that Josh could not see it from where he was flying the broom. _'it's just skill, Vlady. Too bad you weren't there to watch and learn.' _

'_What skill?' _Terry's head was filled with Josh's voice as he was shouting. _'Hermione doesn't have any skill. At least, not natural one.' _

'_Of course not,'_ Terry said tiredly, _'I was not talking about her skill, I was talking about _mine_! And keep it down, you're destroying my delicate brain cells.'_

'_Sorry to disappoint you,' _Josh was still shouting, _'but you don't _have_ any, so there's nothing to destroy.'_

Terry laughed out loud. Yep, that was Josh. Impossible to win against in an oral fight. But Terry didn't mind in the slightest. He didn't have to answer Josh.

'What?' Dina asked.

Terry suddenly remembered that Dina was not deaf. 'I just remembered something funny,' he answered, still smiling to himself.

Dina seemed to not want to press the point either. Terry realized that she was a lot like him, in a way. 'It's boring, sitting here without doing anything. Do you want to make a race?' she asked. 'to the other side and back.'

'What? From this side? But it's shallow. We're supposed to start from the deep side, unless you want to cut your head open when you jump in.'

'Nah, it's fine. You just have to be careful. On the count of three?' Terry nodded. 'OK. One. Two. Three.'

Dina slid down smoothly and started swimming. Terry, however, slipped on his left foot and fell in, splashing water to all sides. By the time he managed to catch his balance, Dina was already on her way back, so he didn't even bother trying.

'Yaaay! I win!' Dina shouted.

'That was not winning, he slipped. I saw everything.' Terry looked up to see Adad watching them.

'Hi, Adad. Where are your friends?' Dina asked him.

'They were supposed to go home at seven. It's already half past,' he answered. 'Where are the rest of _your _friends? Why are you here alone with _him_? Is that your new boyfriend?' Adad had the same blue eyes as his mother and dirty brown hair which almost reached Dina's shade of auburn. The rest of his features were very similar to Dina's. He looked about eight years old.

'Uh-ah,' Dina said, putting her arm around Terry's shoulders, 'that's my _first_ boyfriend.'

Adad's eyes flashed. 'I'm gonna tell mum.'

Dina shrugged. 'She wouldn't mind. She knows him. She entered him into the quiditch team even though he was only a first year.'

Adad opened his mouth to answer, but stopped short when Josh landed his broom next to him. 'Hey, buddy,' Josh said as he spotted him. You are Dina's brother, aren't you?'

But Adad looked as if he did not hear what Josh had just said. He only had eyes for his brom. 'Is that a nimbus 2000?' he asked.

'Oh, _that_,' Josh said. 'Yes. Would you like to have a go?'

'Yes, Yes!' he tried to reach up to take the broom from Josh's hand, but Josh held it high over his head, out of the kid's reach.

'So we'll make a deal. I'll let you fly my broom if you show me that basketball place your sister has been talking about.'

'OK, OK, I'm going there tomorrow. Can I have the broom now?' Adad asked excitedly.

'Sure,' Josh handed it over to him.

Adad immediately jumped onto the broom and started zooming upwards quickly, shouting delightedly.

Very suddenly, the skies started to darken. There was a noise of thunder and heavy rain started pouring down. 'Oh, great,' Dina muttered, 'come back down here, Adad, it's raining!'

'No it's not! Look, it's already stopped,' Adad shouted back without even slowing down. To Terry's surprise, Adad was right. Terry has never seen the rain come and stop so quickly. But he didn't think about it too much.

'Very clever, Josh,' Terry said, turning to his brother, 'what are you gonna do in that basketball place anyway? You don't know anybody.'

Josh shrugged. 'So? You don't need to know someone to be able to play basketball with them. I'll go get my stuff. Be back in a sec.'

Terry was starting to get cold from standing in the pool for so long without moving and he felt the fine hairs all over his body stand on end. He suddenly noticed that Dina's arm was still around his shoulder and he removed it gently.

Dina giggled. 'I totally _love_ annoying my brother.' She was trying to laugh, but her teeth were chattering too hard. Apparently, she was just as cold as him. Luckily, Josh was back quickly.

'Hey, you two lovebirds. Why aren't you doing anything?' he called. He was wearing his swimming clothes: yellow shorts with little ducks on them. Jumping into the pool, he splashed them both with water.

Terry splashed him back. This soon turned into a friendly water fight. But after about five minutes they started getting bored and the water fight took a more aggressive form. Josh and Dina suddenly decided to team up against Terry and he found himself being splashed with tones of water, some of it getting into his mouth so he started coughing wildly. Josh and Dina noticed nothing through the huge noise they were making with the water, so Terry quickly held his breath, dived under the water and tried to swim as far away from them as possible. He then pulled his head out, taking a deep breath of air, only to be attacked again.

He tried to get out of the pool, but one of them grasped his leg and pulled him back inside. He was starting to panic, unable to get any breath, 'stop!' he shouted, 'hey, Josh, stop it!'

Neither Josh nor Dina seemed to hear him, but, fortunately, he somehow managed to get out of the pool, drenched in water and coughing wildly. He walked as far away from the pool as possible, stopping near the wall and putting both of his hands on his knees, panting loudly, a few strands of hair getting into his eyes.

When he finally caught his breath, he looked up warily, still with both hands on his knees and panting slightly, to see Josh and Dina continuing with their water fight as if nothing has happened. He sighed, slumping on one of the chairs nearby, removing some strands of hair from his eyes. He looked around and spotted the towel he brought with him a few meters away from him. After he used his powers to summon the towel wandlessly, he pressed it to his face and started drying off his hair.

Adad landed the broom he was flying next to Terry. 'You're Terry, right?' he asked.

Terry was surprised and looked at him questioningly.

'I just wanted to make sure everything's OK with my sister. I might be younger than her, but I still care about her.' Terry had no idea what the eight year old was talking about. But he found out soon enough. 'If my mum likes you, I don't have any problem with it, but I should warn you now that if you break her heart, I'll break your _neck_.'

Despite having almost drowned, Terry couldn't help laughing at the kid's daring. But he thought that it was sweet. 'It's supposed to be a leg, not a neck,' was all he managed to choke out through his laughter.

'I know,' Adad replied, looking annoyed, 'I just wanted to make sure you got the point.'

'Don't worry, buddy,' Terry said, ruffling his hair. 'Your sister was only joking.'

'What?' Adad was looking sheepish. 'I mean … oh. Sorry.'

'That's OK,' Terry smiled. 'My brother's much worse than that.'

'Really? I think that's impossible. What did he do?' Adad asked.

'You don't wanna know,' Terry answered.

'Oh, come on, tell me!' Adad begged.

Terry looked at him seriously, but couldn't help grinning a little. 'Maybe when you're older. It'll give you nightmares.'

'What happened to _you_?' Adad asked.

When Terry realized what the kid was talking about (he probably looked bad. Terry wouldn't have been surprised if he was green) his grin broadened. 'Ah, that's one of the less serious things my brother's capable of. He tried to drown me. And guess what?! Your sister took part in the plot!!!'

'I wouldn't put it past her,' Adad muttered. Terry noticed that, although the boy could crack jokes and make threats, he somehow always remained serious. So far, he didn't even smile once.

He decided to liven the boy up a bit. 'Do you want to see why your mum bent the rules to let me into the quiditch team?' he asked.

Adad was quick. He handed Terry the broom without even blinking. 'OK,' Terry said, 'watch this.' He jumped onto his broom expertly and started flying around a bit to warm up, enjoying the cool wind which was blowing across his wet face. He then pulled off the best stunts he could make, both to try to impress the eight year old and to dry himself off. When he finally landed his broom next to Adad, the boy was looking impressed.

'That was … pretty good,' he said. 'Where did you learn doing that?'

'Pure talent,' Terry answered, grinning.

Adad smiled for the first time. 'You are OK,' he told him. 'do you want me to show you something?' he asked.

'What? You mean now?' Terry asked.

Adad looked at the swimming pool, where Josh and Dina were still splashing about, although they looked like they were getting tired. Then up at Hermione, who was still flying in the air, but was now merely floating about dreamily, one hand resting on her chin, rather than zooming around like she did earlier.

'They're gonna go back inside any minute,' he said, 'I can show this to you quickly and they're gonna be at the kitchen by the time we get down.' Terry found himself impressed at the kid's sharp sense of interpretation. He could do nothing but follow him into the house, up the stairs and into a room which was two doors to the right of Hermione's one.



Terry had to stifle a gasp as he got the first glimpse of Adad's room. Apparently, he managed to rearrange the room during the short time he has been there to suit his personality. Unlike the rest of the house, which was painted a soft shade of brown, this room was painted sky blue. His bed was smaller than Terry's one, with dark blue mattresses. The walls were covered with pictures of mountains, rivers, open fields. Terry noticed that each picture showed a different weather.

Overall, the room was so messy it looked as if it has been broken into; Adad's clothes were strewn all over the floor. But the strangest bit, which caught Terry's attention as soon as he entered the room, were all the wires which lay all over the floor, tangled with each other. There was a computer on his desk which was connected by another wire to a laptop.

'Wow,' Terry finally said. 'What do you _do_ with all this stuff?'

Adad flopped down on his bed. 'Well, at the beginning, Shigamo just gave me some computer games to play with,' he explained, 'that was the first time ever I've seen a computer, because I come from a pure wizarding family. To tell you the truth, I really have no idea how muggle people could get so excited about these games. I found the computer itself much more fascinating. I mean, it's as if it could think for itself.'

Terry thought that what Adad said was logical, even though, being used to this stuff, he never gave it a second thought.

'I like taking it apart,' Adad said.

'What?' Terry wondered if he heard correctly.

Adad grinned for the second time ever since Terry met him. 'And putting it back together again,' he completed his unfinished sentence. 'I can now do it with my eyes closed, so it's not as exciting. I'm much more interested in the internet. It started ever since I watched this show about tapping into computers. I've tried to do it ever since, but I've never managed to do it.'

'Oh?' Terry had no idea what else to say. This kid talked about computers as if they were holy things. He seemed like a genius and a lunatic mixed together. Sort of like a mad scientist. He had no idea if he believed that Adad only saw a computer for the first time three months ago.



Terry only realized that he has been in Adad's room for a few hours when he got downstairs and found that none of the others were there. They have probably all gone to bed.

Adad showed him the way to the kitchen. When they arrived there, Terry saw that Shigamo was already back and he was sitting at the table, eating some kind of rice and meat. There was also another woman in there, who was probably the cook. She looked English.

'Hello boys,' the woman said. 'I thought you went to sleep without eating dinner. And you must be Terry.' She smiled at him warmly and waved her wand once, making a hot something pour into two bowls out of a steaming pot.

Terry nodded. 'Yeah. Erm, sorry, Adad only showed me his room.' He sat down next to Adad on the table.

'He must really like you,' Shigamo noted. 'He never lets anyone in. And that,' he pointed at the cook, 'is Mrs. Small.'

Terry nodded at her as she waved her wand again and the two bowls landed next to him and Adad. It was the same thing Shigamo was eating.

He looked down at it suspiciously and tucked his spoon inside experimentally. Then he shrugged and started eating. To his surprise, the food was delicious. Even better than the food in Hogwarts, which was saying something.

'Terry, after we finish eating, I would like to have a word with you privately,' Shigamo suddenly said, 'there are some things you ought to know.'

Terry looked at him questioningly, but Shigamo just nodded his head towards Adad and Terry realized that he didn't want Adad to listen.



After they finished eating, Terry said goodnight to Mrs. Small and Adad and followed Shigamo, who was leading him to a part of the house he has never been in before. He opened a door and held it open for Terry to get in. Then he closed it and made sure that it was shut tightly.

'This is a sound proofed room,' Shigamo explained to Terry's bewildered expression. 'No one can hear us unless they are here in the room with us, which is impossible, even if they are wearing an invisibility cloak, because I placed heat sensors in this room.'

This raised Terry's interest. 'Why am I here?' he asked suspiciously.

Shigamo looked at him seriously. 'I think you'd better sit down.'



* * *

REVIEW!!!!

I'm not going to repeat that because I think you got the point.

Anyway, tell me what you think about this chapter - I tried to make it a bit different. Actually, it was supposed to be longer than that, originally, but I thought that this was the best place to end it.


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